Melinda and Melinda

Posted on February 1, 2005

Just came in from the movies.

Tuxa, always the cinema-lover, suggested we’d go see Woody Allen’s latest –Melinda and Melinda.

I knew absolutely nothing about this film. Actually (and this is a little embarrassing for me to admit) I didn’t even know he had a new film! I really like his work and I think I can actually say I’m a fan. As much as I can be anyway, given my general disregard for the cinema…

But anyway, on the way there Tuxa told me a few facts about this particular film. First, Woody Allen didn’t appear in it, which takes a bit off the excitement but it is not such a big deal. Secondly there were critics who loved it. Thirdly, there were critics who said it was Woody’s worst. From these two last facts it was clear that it was indeed Woody Allen in it’s most classic. Which is a good thing.

And in fact it was a very enjoyable film.

Not his greatest work, for sure, but still, a very good movie, with some beautiful moments, the characters are very catchy, very compelling, you feel a connection with most of them from the moment they appear…

All in all a film very much worth seeing. Even if you don’t actually go to a theatre, see it on DVD later on, it’s well worth the time.

But then the fact that we went to this small old-style theatre, where you have no publicity before the film, very few teasers, the session still has a break in the middle and –my favorite– the room is small enough that you actually hear the projector rolling the tape in the quietest moments of the film… That just blows me away. What better way to enjoy good old Woody Allen? All the neurotic characters, the insane dialogs, they just come to life on a setting such as this.

What a great evening! And I was needing it too.