{"id":657,"date":"2010-11-11T12:28:58","date_gmt":"2010-11-11T19:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=657"},"modified":"2010-11-11T13:27:13","modified_gmt":"2010-11-11T20:27:13","slug":"daily-dose-review-you-will-meet-a-tall-dark-stranger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=657","title":{"rendered":"Daily Dose Review: YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ever since Woody Allen left his beloved New York City behind to work in Europe, the quality of his movies has been uneven. Allen started his foreign venture strongly with the brutal \u201cMatch Point.\u201d And in 2008, he captured some magic with the sexually provocative \u201cVicky Christina Barcelona\u201d pitting what many speculated was Allen\u2019s new muse Scarlett Johansson against the simmering Spanish hunk Javier Bardem. <\/p>\n

After returning briefly to NYC to deliver the interesting but largely off-putting \u201cWhatever Works\u201d last year, Allen is back in London giving us \u201cYou Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.\u201d Allen\u2019s new blonde takes the form of Naomi Watts who plays Sally, the frustrated wife of a novelist named Roy (played by Josh Brolin). The tension in the relationship threatens to boil over, as Roy\u2019s latest book can\u2019t find a publisher. To make matters worse Sally\u2019s father, Alfie (Anthony Hopkins), is going through a late in life crisis and has left his wife Helena (Gemma Jones) to try his luck with much younger women. The women Alfie pursues are so young in fact that even he is surprised and a bit embarrassed by his relationship with them.<\/p>\n

The story in \u201cTall Dark Stranger\u201d concerns crumbling relationships and the value in security for some and in not remaining complacent for others. Long-term monogamy is both denounced and supported by Allen\u2019s multi-character script. Sally and Roy may not be right for one another and their inevitable parting may lead to a better life for them. But when Alfie leaves Helena to chase women three or more times his younger, we question whether such a move could ever make logical sense. We\u2019ve seen this kind of thing before, but Allen\u2019s smooth direction and the solid performances by A-List talent keeps the film consistently entertaining. <\/p>\n

The highlight has to be Hopkins who has lost great amount of weight since we last saw him but has not lost his ability to make us feel the characters he creates and inhabits. As Alfie, he makes us despise him and then feel profoundly bad for him. It is a range of emotions that few actors could adequately convey and transfer convincingly to the viewer. And the 73 year-old Hopkins is very much up to the challenge especially when he gets into a fist-fight with a younger man.<\/p>\n

It was also very good to see Antonio Banderas in the supporting role of Greg, an art gallery owner that Sally works for. This smaller role is written with enough substance to give Banderas one of his best characters in a long time. The film depends heavily on the quality of the performances with no one character taking on the typical neuroticism that has become Allen\u2019s trademark. And Banderas plays his part well sharing in relationship troubles with the rest of the cast.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger\u201d is a straightly told and charming installment in Woody Allen\u2019s European journey. But even though Allen\u2019s flirtation across the great pond has produced a steady stream of interesting films, I find myself wishing he\u2019d come back to the city that gave him his big break, if just for one last great neurotic flick.<\/p>\n

NOTE: Netflix is offering a number of Allen\u2019s best films via their streaming service. In the last couple weeks, I\u2019ve watched MANHATTAN and what I consider one of his best films, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS. HANNAH AND HER SISTERS and ANNIE HALL are available as well. Netflix can make a rainy or cold weekend an everything Woody one!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allen’s latest left Jonathan longing for the old NYC Woody.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=657"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":662,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657\/revisions\/662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}