Melinda and Melinda

Life has been fun recently... I guess I should update this blog eh?

Melinda and Melinda This film is... funny, tragic and actually pretty good. I have liked Woody Allen since I read his book Side Effects about 5 years ago. Then I read Without Feathers, which was actually his first book... and since then I have bought the 3 volume set of those two and Getting Even, and his 1960's stand up album Stand Up Comic. I havn't seen much of his early work, and I really should but... oh well.

Anyway, this film is pretty basic. A dinner party at a restaurant with two writers, one a tragic writer, the other a comic writer. Another friend gives a scenario, and the two men attempt to show that life is either a) basically tragic or b) basically comic in nature.

The story is simple, a woman shows up at the door (Melinda) with some problem, and causes issues to come up with the the man of the house. How those issues come up and are resolved is what makes each story different.

In the one, the woman is a tragic figure, and is drawn to another man, who then falls in love with Melinda's friend (the one she busted in on) who is having problems in her marriage. The marriage falls apart, Melinda falls apart...

The other the woman is somewhat comic, and the man falls in love with Melinda, and then finds out his wife is cheating on him, so he attempts to woo Melinda, only to find she is in love with someone else... and then realizes she really loves him.

The film is alot more, it is funny, sad, romantic, tragic... and it seems to be put together as if the characters were being drawn in the air... which of course they are. The film goes back tot he original dinner party several times to keep the audience informed that these characters are fictional.

Of course the main joke is that the characters telling the story are also fictional, two sides of Woody's brain if you will.

The interesting thing about the movie, which doesn't lag, and is quite interesting, is that it is basically a discussion of what life is about. Meaning if you will. Is life basically a tragedy, and therefore not worth living because everyone will get hurt, or is it basically a comedy, and not worth living because nothing really means anything?

The last bit of dialogue, combined with editing, is telling. The one writer says "we better enjoy life now, because it could end like that" and snaps his fingers, and the shot goes black.

Anyway, I found it a stimulating movie. I have heard others find it boring, a mess, and not as good as the old Woody. But then, I havn't seen the old Woody...