Sounds From A Town I Love (2001)
Woody Allen
USA
3 Min.
Long before young directors started professing their love for their hometowns through segment films, we have had directors whose relationship with their city has been more than a mere proposal. I mean, what would Fellini be without Rome, Scorsese without New York or Truffaut without Paris? And how can one ever forget to add the love affair between Manhattan and Woody Allen to that list? Sounds From A Town I Love (2001) was made as a part of the New York Concert that was held following the 9/11 attacks and presents us snippets from phone conversations of random individuals walking on the streets of the city. When the Academy decides to hand the life time achievement to Allen, they might very well go with this clip for the introduction because Sounds, in a way, helps to sum up the whole career of Woody Allen and, in particular, his style of script writing. The throw-them-all-you’ve-got attitude that is so consistently manifest across his filmography and also within each film is very evident in this short too. Most of the one liners work, big time, and some don’t. The camera tracks, in a way that seals the authorship of the film, along with the actors who deliver these lines the same way that Woody the actor himself would have done. Extremely neurotic and utterly funny at once, these characters are all blasts from the past for anyone who has relished the director’s films. The neighbourhood, which is the raison d’etre of this short, is quite familiar to all of us now and only adds to the nostalgic trip. And that introduction message by the director, where he promises his fans that he would make up for it if they felt that this short film was bad, just goes to show how his relationship with his audience has changed post-Deconstructing Harry (1997)
October 2, 2009 at 11:58 am
fantastic stuff, mate…didnt know of its existence till now
How would you define the woody-audience connect pre-Nineties?
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October 2, 2009 at 1:21 pm
That pre-nineties were the best years for Woody Allen. I felt he was trying to become a great director (which he was clearly successful at) AND lead a happy and simple life – which went kaput. In the process of filming his personal angst, he kept making great films, but plundered his personal life. All these films were ultimately narcissistic (and for the good). But with Deconstructing Harry, he had come to a decision and seems to have let go off of one of those worlds…
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October 2, 2009 at 12:00 pm
[…] Review of Sounds From A Town I Love by Seventh Art […]
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October 6, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Srikanth
You are my idol. Accept my application for the post of your disciple.
Brilliant review. Just felt that your inference from the reversal of the Nazi-Jew positions from the first to the final chapters is a result of it being a revenge drama. Yes, the holocaust has not happened in the movie. But we know it has, infact, happened. Isn’t that what makes the film great? Its ability to transcend its immediate filmic duration?
I still believe the role reversal of the Nazi-Jew relation was achieved better with the gruesome climax of Aldrich’s Dirty Dozen, wherein the Jews do the gas chambers on the Nazis now – with chimneys and closed doors et al. I also believe Chaplin’s conversion of Hitler into the collective wishful fantasy of the world, i.e, a peace-loving dictator, and his simultaneous reduction from the Fuhrer to a barber(through a clever use of double role), in The Great Dictator, was more subversive than Tarantino converting Hitler into a Chaplinesque figure :) and getting him shot. Also, while IB still believes in the philosophy of war, merely transferring favour from one side to another, TGD completely obliterates it.
And I still believe, Tarantino might never be able to outdo PF. But if anything will force me to contemplate otherwise, it’s your dissertation on the film. Congratulations.
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October 6, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Fantastic that you brought up TGD. It makes it all the more interesting. One made before the Holocaust, one after, both caricaturing Hitler. And the rest of the lot falling somewhere in between.
I guess Chaplin’s romantic vision was a tonic much required for the mood of that period. If IB was made, say, in 1947 or so, it would have been just a propaganda film, a thirst-quenching grindhouse flick. But, since our cinema history has put up a serious face through the 60+ years, IB turns out to be more comical that it would have been. As Alan Alda says: “Comedy is Tragedy + Time!”
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October 7, 2009 at 2:32 am
“Comedy is Tragedy + Time”
We aren’t quite willing to let go of Allen on this post, are we? :)
“would have been just a propaganda film, a thirst-quenching grindhouse flick.”
As was the case with Hitler : Dead or Alive(1942).
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October 7, 2009 at 9:06 am
hehe, ya, would like to see that movie some day.
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