Woody Allen Match Point

(aka 'Woody Allen Summer Project')

Directed by Woody Allen
USA 2005

As I had some opposing viewpoints with friends in email, whom - by the way - I greatly respect, I purposely waited quite a while to post this review after my initial viewing... where I was quite emphatic about the film's greatness. I have since seen it twice more and my opinion hasn't changed an iota. If this is not my favorite Woody Allen film, it is definitely in my personal top 5 (I'd include Crimes and Misdemeanors, Mighty Aphrodite, Anne Hall and Love and Death).

Allen is working towards being the most prolific modern director ever to come out of the United States, if he is not already - 42 films to date and holding strong at a healthy 70 years of age. But what separates him from most of his contemporaries is that his films are consistently above grade - almost exclusively ranging from better-than-average to as lofty as masterpiece status. I choose the latter superlative for Match Point not only for its perceptive examination of power struggles in modern relationships, ambition and guilt, as much as I commend his decision to take the chance he did in making it. Don't be fooled - Woody Allen knows how to make popular films folks, but he precariously balances this with desire to make important films. He took a chance with this and hence audiences are quite divided - this alone makes it worthy of examination. The complaints? - Jonathan Rhys Meyers' flat performance - certainly purposeful (reminding one of Bresson) to intentionally ellicit focus on the main premise of the film - and thereby heightening emotional impact in the conclusion.

Match Point is sexy, mysterious, building, eventful and essentially quite unforgettable. The performances are basically one dimensional - aside from the moral slippage of the protagonist - conveniently reading Crime and Punishment in the beginning of the film. Scarlett Johansson has never looked better (as good as any female has a right to look) and her character generously gives to Rhys Meyers - an extremely important cog in the brilliant evolution of this story. Obvious comparisons are made to Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors - the sterility of murder and the cold blanket of its cumulative effect. For me this is a favorite film of the past few years and one I should have added to this article had I seen it first. Nothing short of perfection and we should be enormously grateful to have Allen as a working filmmaker. Don't miss out on this masterpiece - out of

Gary W. Tooze

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Theatrical Release: May 12th, 2005 - Cannes Film Festival

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DVD Review: Dreamworks - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Dreamworks Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	2:04:20
Video	1.85:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.52 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0), DUB: French (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	English, French, Spanish, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Dreamworks Home Video Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Edition Details: • trailer for Munich DVD Release Date: April 25th, 2006 Keep Case Chapters: 24

Comments:

Strong image from Dreamworks - sharp, progressive, anamorphic, good colors and balanced contrast. There are well rendered white optional subtitles - the audio is in Allen's preferred mono (1.0 track doubled over two channels) and there are no extras save a trailer for Spielberg's Munich. Aside from its bare bones status (conventionally smelling of a gamble-less studio move) this is a fine DVD - accurately representing the theatrical appearance. For the value of the film the price is a steal and we strongly recommend.

Gary W. Tooze

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