Just Allen

Honestly I tried writing this entire post yesterday but I managed to delete the entire article somehow and hadn’t saved a draft. So I have created it from scratch and while it hasn’t come out as what I had intended it yesterday I think it still manages to come close.

Over the course of the past forty eight hours I have been watching Woody Allen documentaries, revisiting some of his older films, reading some of his short stories and trying to look beyond the surface of this genius.

My love for Woody Allen started when I was about sixteen. I was a hopeless teenager in search of love, the meaning of life and existentialism and laughs all of which undoubtedly are explored in each and every one of Allen’s films.

I had a brief stint with Allen’s films bringing myself to watch two of his more mainstream works - Annie Hall and Manhattan. The two propelled me to admire this man and the narrative which he carried with himself onto the screen.

I never truly understood him back then with all his wit and sarcasm and deeper questions which I ignored with a second thought primarily because I thought that these were just passing dialogues. But today when I watch his films I feel a sense of deep exploration that I need to take in order to really understand what he had tried to project on the screen.

The passion for his films was short lived and I quickly moved onto discovering other directors such as Tarantino, Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese and John Hughes. The last name is not a typo if you are thinking it to be. The main reason behind including John Hughes in the list is that he somehow was the guiding light through all those teenage years when I was trying to find my way. But since this is a post about Allen I will keep it short. John Hughes changed the way I lived those years through not only the films that he had directed but also through the ones he had written(read Ferris Bueller’s Day off, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles)

The film isn’t over till the guy has a chance to reclaim his love a second time and neither is this post. I rediscovered Allen as a young adult with his newer films such as Matchpoint, Scoop and Vicky Christina Barcelona and the more recent and widely acclaimed Midnight in Paris. While these were all brilliant films and brought about a deeper understanding of his thought process I still seemed to be lost when I watched his films

And that’s when I decided to discover his older works. Works where he is not burdened by a story and the films are more than ever inspired by his daily life. This brought me to watch his lesser known films as well as those that probably are never heard of by the average movie goer.

I ended up watching Hannah and her sisters,Everyone Says I love you, Zelig, Stardust Memories and a whole lot of his earlier works (Bananas and company). These I believe are the true Allen. These define the man that we know and love best.

As I watched the two part documentary on his life I discovered that there is so much I am yet to discover such as his films with John Cusack which I plan to watch over the weekend and his stand up performances from the time when he hadn’t set foot in Hollywood. There’s also a book of his complete prose which I shall be reading undoubtedly over the summer.

I don’t know why I wanted to write an article on him. There are very few people who truly inspire you. Of the ten odd people who have had a profound impact on my life I think he undoubtedly will top the list.

So here’s to Woody Allen. The man who is the movies to me.