Crimes and Misdemeanors by Woody Allen
Only half of 'Crimes and Misdemeanors' plays out the way it sounds or vaguely promises. You walk into it hoping for scoundrels and damsels. You expect capers and glib social innuendos. Perhaps even a clever bank heist, Woody Allen style, dripping with wry humor and scheming cons.
Well, no, this is not one of those movies.
CnM in fact is an uneasy alliance between two parallel story arcs, that meet only once, not as a plot device, but as an exclamation point of resounding volume. Its a disturbing confluence of criminal tragedy and romantic comedy. The stressful drama unfolds in the life of a successful opthamologist (Martin Landau) whose mistress of the past few years (Anjelica Huston) has had enough of sitting on the sidelines. She does not want to share Landau anymore, and is willing to go to any extreme to achieve that goal. The oddly endearing comic relief is provided by Allen himself, a middle aged documentary maker who yearns for the affection of a kindred spirit and fellow artist (Mia Farrow), while getting increasingly distant from his uninterested and disappointed wife.
The genius of Woody Allen's work is in portraying the every day life with such precision that the pathos of it's characters seeps into you like water in sand. As a conflicted Landau struggles to deal with the increasingly neurotic and insecure Huston, you often find yourself taking his place and dreading it. As he slowly unravels in the face of the constant threat that could utterly destroy his life, his family, his career, you find yourself admonishing him under your breath for his indiscretions and infidelity, at the same time thanking the Universe for not placing you in his cursed shoes.
While we watch Landau's fall from grace with increasing discomfort, Allen's own dilemmas leave you wishing for a happy ending for the despondent filmmaker. Not only does his wife have no love or respect for his non-commercial work, he finds himself constantly pit against his arch-nemesis, the wildly successful brother-in-law (the great Alan Alda). Allen's Cliff sticks to his principles and integrity inspite of being constantly upended in love and glory by the maverick Alda. You root for him till the very end, even as he sits confused and defeated, unable to find a single ray of light to brighten his derailed life. Of course, how Landau's guilt ridden opthamologist fits into this end is what Woody Allen and the film is all about. As expected, Allen leaves you with more questions than answers, with a faint hope that the truth lies somewhere between the crimes and misdemeanors of human existence. Nobody portrays the irrationality of life in cinema, without being cinematic, better than Woody Allen. And here, he's at the top of his game.
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