9.13.2009

Match Point


Match Point (SPOILER ALERT)

I saw this movie again for the first time in a while, and I have to say that watching it again has been just as enjoyable as the very first time I saw it. I think it is a film well made, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone (why I decided to review it now, of all times, I’m not sure, but I haven’t been able to see anything new in a while, so bear with me here).

I don’t know if I like this movie for its merit, or because the first time I saw it, I had recently been in The Elixir of Love, the opera from which the main operatic theme of the film comes. Either way, it is pegged as Woody Allen’s comeback, and I wholeheartedly agree. There are so many references to classic film and literature that it’s hard not to think of this piece as satire. One of my favorite scenes is when the detective is lying in bed and suddenly solves the murder and sits straight up; this undoubtedly came straight from Crime and Punishment. We all know how Woody Allen loves his Russian lit.

Only Woody Allen can make a movie about killing your pregnant mistress funny. This is definitely one of my favorites, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in a dark, twisted good time. Scarlett Johansson does a commendable job, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is brilliant, and Emily Mortimer is good as the naïve wife. It’s a movie where you want to pity all the characters, but at the same time, all of them deserve the events that occur. Meyers deserves to be in a passionless marriage; Johansson deserves to be shanked; Mortimer deserves to be in the dark the entire time. It completely fits all of their characters.

This is a very entertaining movie, both intellectually and aesthetically. Watch it now, if you haven’t before.

Peace!

The Movie Mistress





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