Cinematic Wanderings
By Luke Mindell
Everything You Always Wanted From Woody Allen,
But Never Thought You’d Get!
Woody Allen is one of the America’s greatest filmmakers, and one of my all time favorites. Allen has written, directed and starred in ten of the best comedies ever made, the best of which is Annie Hall, and the funniest of which is Love & Death. His record suffered, however, due to the fact that over the past ten years, he has made one good movie, Sweet and Lowdown, and ten cinematic atrocities too disappointing to mention. It seemed as though Allen was destined to slowly destroy his career and reputation as a filmmaker by making one bad movie a year for the rest of his life.
Woody, I’m sorry… I was wrong! In Match Point, Allen has not only made his first good film in seven years, he has made a true masterpiece. Whether Allen has matured as a filmmaker, or he just finally put some effort into his craft I cannot tell, though I’m leaning towards the former. Allen was in top form when he wrote this film; both in terms of plot and dialogue. The story flows like few ever do, and the dialogue feel like genuine human interaction while still maintaining wit and rhythm.
Allen wrote and directed this terrific film, but does not appear in the cast as he so often does. He even resisted the urge to create a surrogate character for himself, though the protagonist does occasionally display Woody’s rather prodigious libido. Then again, maybe this guy represents the more serious, mature, European Woody.
For Match Point, Allen traded in his beloved New York City for London, but treats that city with the same reverence and wonder he showed for The Big Apple.
The story centers around ex-tennis star Chris Wilton, played, in the film’s standout performance, by Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The film opens on the net of a tennis court, with a ball flying back and forth. In narration, Wilton tells of the importance of luck as the ball catches the top of the net and shoots straight up. It could fall on either side of the net and Wilton explains: “I’d rather be lucky than good.”
Chris Wilton gets a job teaching tennis at a swanky club where he meets Tom Hewett, good-natured heir to the wealthy and powerful Hewett family. Due to their shared love of opera, they become fast friends, and tom introduces Chris to his sister Chloe. Chloe and Chris hit it off and are soon romantically involved.
Allen often lives out his fantasies through his characters, and I could feel the romantic in Allen pining away during the scene when the wealthy and beautiful Chloe subtly seduces Chris. Or when Chris meets Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson), the film’s sultry blond American actress. Chris enters the game room at the Hewett estate to find a the femme fatal standing over a ping-pong table. They begin to play and Chris returns the woman’s serve with much more power and skill than were necessary, showing off his athletic prowess.
“You play hard.” She says, and Chris moves to the other side of the table, embraces her under the guise of showing her what she’s doing wrong.
He asks, “Did anyone ever tell you that you have very sensual lips?” To which she responds, “You play very hard.”
At this moment of course, Tom Hewett enters the room and introduces Chris to the woman with whom he has been flirting as, “My fiancé, Nola Rice.”
Match Point is, at its heart, a thriller, though it also succeeds on several other levels. It’s a romance about two men, two women, and three relationships, a social drama about common folk in high society, and even at times, a very subtle comedy.
The film is amazingly even keeled, first it slowly introduces tension, and then it ratchets it up slowly and consistently, never faltering even for a moment. At the beginning, when it’s slow and thoughtful, Match Point is wonderful, but once it develops into a thriller, it’s utterly hypnotic. Woody Allen’s Match point is unmistakably the work of a master filmmaker.