Starring: Woody Allen, Jesse Eisenberg, Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz, Ellen Page, Roberto Begnini, Allison Pill, Fabio Armiliato Falvio Parenti, Alessandro Tiberi, Alessandro Mastronardi
Director: Woody Allen
Initial Release Date/s: 04/20/12 [Italy] & 06/22/12 [Limited United States]
Running Time: 95 Minutes
A Summer love intricately
latticed with Spring fever, whilst relaying a kind of story telling that is all
too familiar to the avid modern and post-modern cinema patron. Delivering shades
of hues that mimic the sociological aspects of two cultures, melting and
winding themselves to create a forceful impact upon the viewers' mind.
Roma, the Eternal City, of lights, love, culture, and adventure, which is where the film takes place. In this particular telling, we have a Surrealist outlook with the filtration of classic & modern Romanticism. The film is framed into 4 distinctly vivid tales of romance that have no physical connection of whatsoever, yet it protrudes the superficial and feel as though they were almost one and the same. One can almost say that the plot is highly inspired by the classic Italian parable of The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio.
One tale revolves around an aspiring architect (Eisenberg), an American student studying in Rome (Grewig), a pseudo-intellectual young actress (Page), and an acclaimed architect who acts like the Jiminy cricket of the three aforementioned personalities (Baldwin). Their tale is about sexually repressed feelings and the desire to indulge themselves through traditional unrealistic amorous notions, and nothing more. The next tale is of a simple middle-class Italian man (Begnini) who transforms into this mega celebrity, overnight, for being...famous, and no other reason. It’s like a reflection on how the public reacts and lives vicariously through the modern celebrities’ lives. The third one tells us of a newlywed Italian couple (Tiberi & Mastronardi) from the province. They're on their honeymoon in Rome, but also seek a new life there as well. A prostitute (Cruz) manages to find herself in this tale, acting as one of the major wild cards in this account. The fourth episode in this framed story begins when an American tourist girl (Pill) meets this local man who is "pro bono leftist" lawyer (Parenti), and they fall in love with each other, like in a typical Romantic tale. You can almost say it was kismet. They quickly plan to get married, so she invites her parents over to meet him and his family. Her father is a retired musical director that specializes in avant-garde Operas (Allen) and her mother is a psychiatrist (Davis), while his mother is a typical Italian housewife and his father is a local undertaker who turns into an amazing tenor while bathing in the shower (Armiliato). I believe that covers the entire basic skeletal structure of the film.
It was really a treat to see Woody Allen on-screen in one of his films. Like all of the characters he writes, the neuroticism never escapes their personalities. From the character he portrays himself, to the ones that are being portrayed by the American and Italian main actors. I have to applaud his performance though, because it was very entertaining. But then again, is it really acting when you play a fictionalized version of yourself? Well, at least I got to see Jesse Eisenberg in a Woody Allen film in my lifetime, but I would like to see more screen time for him. Hopefully they do a movie together, again.
The film's plot was interesting, but I felt it could've gone further and deeper. At certain moments in the film, the blur between reality and surreality was a bit of a hurdle, but easy to conquer as time progressed. Cultural subtexts that compare Modern Roman culture to American culture are highly showcased in the film, which gives off a distinct sense of tethering towards one another. One culture seems to be yanking the other culture by saying, "Hey, you got that from us!" While the other is yelling, "Well, we made it better!” as their retort. It all seems to be squeezed in, and each story could've stood on their own. One can only wonder how far those could've gone.
Some of that classic Woody Allen humor runs rampant in the film, which gives it this brightly palatable whim. To the vivid portrayal of characters with strange moralistic senses, which creates the introspective views of how humans really think without being too obvious. Though this may not be as what I had expected, from Mr. Allen and his powerhouse cast, it still has a charmingly appealing nature that is almost natural in all of Woody’s films. Somehow it manages to drown the viewer in the midst of a sea with multiple stories and a table-full of characters. Overall, this film is a crudely amiable manifestation of the human need to find that storybook feeling of Romance, in today's times. I really had high hopes for this movie, but after seeing it, I just don’t know where those hopes went.
Roma, the Eternal City, of lights, love, culture, and adventure, which is where the film takes place. In this particular telling, we have a Surrealist outlook with the filtration of classic & modern Romanticism. The film is framed into 4 distinctly vivid tales of romance that have no physical connection of whatsoever, yet it protrudes the superficial and feel as though they were almost one and the same. One can almost say that the plot is highly inspired by the classic Italian parable of The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio.
One tale revolves around an aspiring architect (Eisenberg), an American student studying in Rome (Grewig), a pseudo-intellectual young actress (Page), and an acclaimed architect who acts like the Jiminy cricket of the three aforementioned personalities (Baldwin). Their tale is about sexually repressed feelings and the desire to indulge themselves through traditional unrealistic amorous notions, and nothing more. The next tale is of a simple middle-class Italian man (Begnini) who transforms into this mega celebrity, overnight, for being...famous, and no other reason. It’s like a reflection on how the public reacts and lives vicariously through the modern celebrities’ lives. The third one tells us of a newlywed Italian couple (Tiberi & Mastronardi) from the province. They're on their honeymoon in Rome, but also seek a new life there as well. A prostitute (Cruz) manages to find herself in this tale, acting as one of the major wild cards in this account. The fourth episode in this framed story begins when an American tourist girl (Pill) meets this local man who is "pro bono leftist" lawyer (Parenti), and they fall in love with each other, like in a typical Romantic tale. You can almost say it was kismet. They quickly plan to get married, so she invites her parents over to meet him and his family. Her father is a retired musical director that specializes in avant-garde Operas (Allen) and her mother is a psychiatrist (Davis), while his mother is a typical Italian housewife and his father is a local undertaker who turns into an amazing tenor while bathing in the shower (Armiliato). I believe that covers the entire basic skeletal structure of the film.
It was really a treat to see Woody Allen on-screen in one of his films. Like all of the characters he writes, the neuroticism never escapes their personalities. From the character he portrays himself, to the ones that are being portrayed by the American and Italian main actors. I have to applaud his performance though, because it was very entertaining. But then again, is it really acting when you play a fictionalized version of yourself? Well, at least I got to see Jesse Eisenberg in a Woody Allen film in my lifetime, but I would like to see more screen time for him. Hopefully they do a movie together, again.
The film's plot was interesting, but I felt it could've gone further and deeper. At certain moments in the film, the blur between reality and surreality was a bit of a hurdle, but easy to conquer as time progressed. Cultural subtexts that compare Modern Roman culture to American culture are highly showcased in the film, which gives off a distinct sense of tethering towards one another. One culture seems to be yanking the other culture by saying, "Hey, you got that from us!" While the other is yelling, "Well, we made it better!” as their retort. It all seems to be squeezed in, and each story could've stood on their own. One can only wonder how far those could've gone.
Some of that classic Woody Allen humor runs rampant in the film, which gives it this brightly palatable whim. To the vivid portrayal of characters with strange moralistic senses, which creates the introspective views of how humans really think without being too obvious. Though this may not be as what I had expected, from Mr. Allen and his powerhouse cast, it still has a charmingly appealing nature that is almost natural in all of Woody’s films. Somehow it manages to drown the viewer in the midst of a sea with multiple stories and a table-full of characters. Overall, this film is a crudely amiable manifestation of the human need to find that storybook feeling of Romance, in today's times. I really had high hopes for this movie, but after seeing it, I just don’t know where those hopes went.
Final Verdict: See it on DVD/Blu-Ray/Netflix.
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