Woody Allen
Irrational Man

[Contains spoilers]

Woody's new film, like the previous one, starts from a situation of pessimism and disillusionment of the protagonist. This makes it more Allenian than other works of the famous filmmaker's recent years. The human configuration of the protagonist is so similar to many others (like Boris from Whatever Works, for example) that the director almost skips the preliminaries: after fifteen minutes, Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone are already familiar with each other, and the horny colleague Rita Richards is already making a strong pass at him. When the latter shows up at Abe's (Phoenix) apartment, the situation is almost embarrassing due to how blatant her erotic approach is. It is a cinema that develops human affairs with truly extreme schematics. Woody is tired of half measures, as often happens with older people, he wants to go straight to the point, to soon unravel the heart of the matter. But when it comes to sentimental matters, it's always a bit risky to be so geometric: here, people get together and break up with really too much nonchalance.

The dynamics are so obvious that the characters themselves admit it: in this way, Allen can partially save himself. The banality of the screenplay is to some extent redeemed by the fact that it becomes almost a parody of itself. Emma Stone offers herself openly to Phoenix, saying, "We spend a lot of time together, everyone knows by now," implying that the normal next step is a romantic relationship. The two discuss at dinner about the legitimacy of their relationship, as if they were two screenwriters deciding at the table how to continue a story. It's an interesting but definitely convoluted gimmick without consequences.

Abe Lucas's character's spiraling into himself finds its release in the Taxi Driver-like project of killing a judge to help a mother fighting not to lose her child. At this point, Abe has a sudden mood change, which in Allen's intentions serves to portray the conflict between rigorous philosophy that nonetheless leads to error and incorrect practice that instead leads to doing good. All of this had been announced by Abe himself during the first lecture. The second part thereby develops an investigative plot that vaguely seems to recall Match Point, but it overturns the motives and results. In this context, Abe's evolution seems truly hacked with an axe and hardly believable in its final outcomes: the fragile, sensitive, depressed professor turns in a short time into an almost expert killer. He lacks the believability of the cunning social climber protagonist of Match Point.

The theme of good and evil, both philosophical and concrete, represents the justification for the film's existence, which is more than anything else yet another fragment rendered in cinematic form of the restless and conflicted conscience of its author. Beyond that, the story does not present particular points of interest. It is the classic Allen-like Crime and Punishment development, but without the ruthless cynicism of Match Point or the rich interpretation of Blue Jasmine. There are no particular elements that save the film, lacking any interesting directorial insight or notable aesthetic embellishment (music, photography, and settings are almost always neutral); even the characters have been lazily written and barely penetrate the screen only thanks to the actors Phoenix and Stone, suited for their roles.

5/10