Shadows and Fog (1991)

Purely Joyful Movie!

One of my all time favorites.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Woody Allen is annoying as usual, playing a Kafka-inspired role set in Germany or Central Europe in the early twentieth century. (Electric light is commonplace, but no automobile is ever seen) Allen's shtick was original and amusing in the early Seventies, but it palled many decades ago. The plot is fairly boring, and never really ties together very well. There is a sort of "all-star cast" that is largely wasted. And the film (and plot) had no real ending, it just kind of quit. However, there were some good things. The mood was set very well with the fog, the black-and-white photography, the music. Nice performances from some of the cast, especially Mia Farrow, John Cusack, John Malkovich, and even the much-maligned Madonna. Some of Allen's direction was effective, such as the 360 shot around the table at the brothel. But overall, the film was boring, and I cannot recommend it.

Review: After seeing who was starring in this movie, I was really looking forward to it, but once again, Woody Allen's constant babbling and silly humour just didn't work for me. The whole town is scared to leave there homes because there is a serial killer on the lose and they gather together to try and capture him. They form different gangs, who don't get along and all the way through the film, Woody Allen is completely left out of the loop. With such an intense situation, Allen's character is going around spurting out these annoying one liners which gets on everyone's nerves, including mine. On top of that, you've got the squeaky Mia Farrow whose in a troubled relationship and ends up sleeping with Cusack for loads of money. I liked the banter with the prostitutes, played by Kathy Bates, Jodie Foster and Lily Tomlin, but the storyline gets a bit weak after a while. It would have been much better if it was a whodunit because you see who the killer is, way to early in the movie. Anyway, I think it was a waste of a great cast and I personally thought that Allen and Farrow spoilt the movie. Disappointing!Round-Up: I was expecting Madonna to have a big part in this film, after seeing her face all over the poster, but she's only in one scene. You do see a few famous people along the way, like John C. Reilly and William H. Macy, but I doubt that you will notice them. Judging by the box office takings, I wasn't the only one that thought that this movie was a bit weak. Basically, for a suspense thriller, there really wasn't that much suspense or thrilling happening, so it has to get the thumbs down from me.Budget: $14million Domestic Gross: $3million (Terrible!)I recommend this movie to people who are into there Woody Allen movies about a town of people trying to capture a serial killer. 3/10

Shadows and Fog is a movie that I really want to like. Its in black and white, the cast is fantastic, and the initial conceit of bumbling Woody Allen being tasked with tracking down a murderer and not being told what he's supposed to do make it seem quite compelling. I also get that this is a homage to German Expressionism. The problem is that the whole thing just gets bogged down under too many characters, shallow explorations of love, infidelity, murder, 19th century antisemitism, and lots of other ideas that sort of get brought up and then forgotten. If you like Woody Allen, then you may just enjoy this movie as an exercise in how Woody Allen's mind works, but its just too rough to be recommended.

A warning before I begin: So far, in my quest to see all Woody Allen films, I have only seen the following: Annie Hall, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Manhattan, Vicky Christina Barcelona, Whatever Works, and Hannah and Her Sisters. I felt that I should have stated that before I went any further. While I enjoyed this film, it was not my favorite that I have seen of his. There were some great moments, but it did not feel like an instant Allen classic. The plot is very simple, yet very complex at the same time. Woody's character has been woken up in the middle of the night and is told that he is a part of a plan which he knows nothing about. The viewers do not know anything more than he does, and so we constantly learn with him. From what we do know: there is a killer on the loose, the killer only attacks when there is fog on the island, and there is currently fog on the island. Woody is then thrown into the adventure, completely unsure of what will happen next. It is very much a circus film, in which anything can happen. Not all films are able to maintain that spontaneity, yet—in this film—it works. The supporting cast is wonderful. There are a ridiculous amount of cameos. Because of the spontaneity described above, however, I did not feel that WA was trying to "star up" his film in the hopes that more people would go see it. Madonna as a curly-haired adulterer? Kathy Bates, Jodie Foster, and Lily Tomlin as hookers? Mia Farrow as the wife of a sword swallower? Whatever. It works. There were, however, some elements which did not fit as easily together. The tone changed several times throughout the film. Because of the fact that the film was about a killer on the loose, it would have made more sense for the paranoia and fear aspect to travel throughout the entire course. Instead, it seemed that there were interruptions of philosophical moments. While this great in films like Crimes and Misdemeanors, they felt like Woody Allen was reading philosophy books during the writing of the script and became temporarily distracted. I was hoping for the moments in which characters question reality to fit more with the plot. They did not, and the film suffered because of it. Mind you, the rest of the film was created in a fashion where these small slips were forgivable. This film was not a mess in any way and is still better than much of the material that is being released today. In the film, we are introduced (or have we already been introduced) to what WA has said is his personal belief: that we are destroyed by the absence of illusions in life. To those who have not read that much on WA, this may be a very great concept. For those who have heard it before, however, it feels a little...ordinary. Though what do I know?