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Rating: Woody Allen is undoubtedly a multifaceted artist, actor, director, composer, and more, who has achieved great critical and public success in his life, but has also gone through a couple of small "dark periods" artistically speaking, which perhaps reflected a less happy moment in his personal life.
During these periods, he produced some films not up to the level of his fame or talent, such as the two films preceding this one, namely September and Another Woman, both received coldly. "Crimes And Misdemeanors," dated 1989, is the film of redemption. Allen is the absolute star, director, lead actor, and screenwriter (nominated for two Oscars). This film combines some of the typical traits of the director of Jewish origin, such as politically incorrect irony, witty remarks, reflections on themes like love, God, religion in general, goodness, adoration of New York, combined with other more dramatic and serious traits that are not unprecedented but are nonetheless unusual for him.
The film features two stories that intertwine only at the end: on one side, the one played by Allen, a little-known documentarian who harbors deep envy towards his brother-in-law Lester (Alan Alda, who performs his role excellently), a pompous and conceited film producer with great success both in business and in love. He, involved in an intricate family situation (the legendary witty remark "the last woman I entered last year was the Statue of Liberty"), falls hopelessly in love with Halley (Mia Farrow), to whom he eventually declares his love with a letter that "was really a semi-plagiarism of James Joyce". On the other side, we have the other Oscar nominee Martin Landau, delivering a compelling performance as an ophthalmologist with a good economic and family situation that threatens to collapse when his lover Dolores puts him in a tight spot, threatening to disclose their affair and his past illegal activities unless he gives up everything for her. This is more or less the plot that sets off a series of events that are sometimes paradoxical, sometimes hilarious (though much less than in Allen's other films), sometimes dramatic.
The film runs for 104 minutes and indeed lacks a fast pace or thrilling twists, but that’s not what it asks for. It provides many points for reflection, starting from the one undertaken by Landau-Judah on the existence or absence of morality, something superior that sooner or later evaluates us individually and transcends human understanding; there's the ancient discussion on whether and how the law can affect and obstruct the concept of justice; there are reflections on the noblest, strongest, and most conflicting of feelings, which is love. The performances of the actors are all convincing, from the two main actors to the supporting characters; even the locations contribute to immersing in the atmosphere of the film, without making one shout for a miracle.
In evaluating this film, in my opinion understated compared to other works by the author, I give it four stars, partly for Allen's comeback after a slightly subdued period, partly for the excellent balance between comedy and drama, and finally for the masterful jazz soundtrack, a theme on which Allen is a recognized authority.
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