The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Director: Kim Bartley & Donnacha O'Briain
Year: 2002
Country: Ireland
Location: Venezuela
I was set to critique this documentary, but in the process I found myself becoming as angry as I was while watching it. You've heard me talk about this a million times before, and I will continue in the future: I do not support the Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez whatsoever. This film clearly does. And while it is very well-made and highly persuasive, for someone like me who is completely acquainted with the situation on which the documentary focuses (the 2002 coup d'état against Chávez and his temporary exit from the government), it is clear that the situation was distorted to favor him. Something with which I painfully agree is the film's allegations that the Venezuelan private media were extremely biased in their coverage of Chávez at the beginning of his mandate, but that is it. Their argument that the infamous shootings from the Llaguno bridge and their consequences were made up by the opposition, among many other things, infuriate me beyond control. So, I will not discuss this film any further, it would take me five posts to do so satisfactorily.
My rating: 7/10 (it is well-made, just not trustworthy).
IMDb rating: 8.4/10
Hannah and Her Sisters
Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Year: 1986
Country: US
One of Woody Allen's most renowned films, Hannah and Her Sisters is a marvelous comedy filled with drama, witticisms, neurosis, romance, art, and excellent music. Starting on Thanksgiving dinner at Hannah's house (Mia Farrow), the movie follows the lives of different members of her family, to various degrees, including, of course, her sisters Lee (Barbara Hershey) and Holly (Dianne Wiest, whom I adore), her husband Elliot (Michael Caine), her ex-husband Mickey (Woody Allen), and even her parents Norma (Maureen O'Sullivan) and Evan (Lloyd Nolan). And it is precisely her sisters and not Hannah herself who become the main focus of the plot, though everything eventually and invariably is connected back to the latter.
Lee, worn out from her long relationship with the reclusive artist Frederick (Max von Sydow), sees herself entangled in an affair with Elliot, Hannah's husband, while Holly and Mickey (a hypochondriac and one of the highlights of the film), after a disastrous first date, eventually begin to become closer to one another.
I liked this film because, in addition to counting with some of those recurring elements present in Allen's films, there was also that characteristic approach to life and relationships that I find so refreshing and I believe is a quintessential part of his work: that nonchalant outlook in which even the absurd and dramatic is accepted as a simple fact of life, not as something irrelevant or insignificant, of course not, but definitely as something that just happens and that doesn't need to cause great commotion just because it is different or seemingly unheard-0f.
My rating: 7/10
IMDb rating: 7.4/10
Broadway Danny Rose
Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Year: 1984
Country: US
Danny Rose (Woody Allen) is a talent manager in New York City who represents many talentless acts. However, out of this bunch of mediocre entertainers, there is Lou Canova (Nick Apollo Forte) who did manage to score a hit single with his song "Agita" (which was stuck in my head for weeks) in previous years. Danny Rose is now trying to bring him back to the spotlight, and has managed to secure a gig for him at the Waldorf Astoria, however, Lou refuses to sing if his lover Tina (Mia Farrow) is not present. Danny is now forced to go in search of this woman and bring her back to the city before Lou's show. Unfortunately, Tina's ex-boyfriend, an Italian gangster, becomes jealous upon seeing Tina and Danny together, and commands a hit on him, forcing them to escape at all costs.
Broadway Danny Rose is my least favorite film by Woody Allen. To be honest, I didn't enjoy it all that much, I found Lou's character irritating to no end, and the overall situation made me very impatient. I do think Mia Farrow looks stunning (even with the flashy clothes) here, more so than in any other film where I have seen her thus far. But this is not to say that I would discourage anyone from seeing it, it's still funny, but, for me, it lacked the sophistication of Allen's other works.
My rating: 6/10
IMDb rating: 7.4/10
Other Woody Allen films previously discussed:
On the nest Film Junkie: Pane e Tulipani, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Pretty in Pink.
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3 thoughts:
I find it interesting that you rated the Woody Allen movie and the documentary on Hugo Chavez both 7/10 yet you so vehemenantly disagree with the documentary's perspective. Kind of like that - it means you're able to guage specific qualities somewhat unbiasedly while still maintaining an emotional reaction based off an intellectual perspective... if that makes sense..
It is a pity that people misrepresent issues to favour their own agendas and political ideas. I know quite a bit on the story and reading your pieces always inform me even more in-depth.
Documentary filming is persuasive, but subjective in most cases which makes it actually a dangerous medium, because people value documentaries as truth.
love that film, Hannah and... Woody Allen is a genious!
thanks for your comment!
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