Crimes and Misdemeanors
Written & Directed by: Woody Allen
One of the best aspects of Woody Allen's films is the way he makes fun of himself - like Michel de Montaigne - a philosopher who made fun of people who are proud and narcissistic about their intellect. Usually when we write films which are so personal to us, it's difficult to take the film's worldview above our own worldview and Woody Allen does that effortlessly in a lot of his films. The fact that he is making a documentary about a philosopher, is making fun of the fact that a lot of filmmakers are interested in exploring intellectual themes which no one is interested in.
One of the important ideas in this film is, how our relationships affect our sense of self worth - the way Cliff's worst fear is that Reed will fall in love with a successful guy over him - it's not about losing her or missing her - it is reinforcing the idea that he isn't good enough as another person who makes more money and is more famous than him. Films like these don't teach us not to do that or feel that way, they give us a pat on the shoulder saying that we aren't alone on this and that there are a lot of people like us feeling the same way - after this affirmation, we get to introspect on fixing this.
The other subplot about murder, it also deals with dark themes and yet is treated in a light note. I was wondering the same when I was watching Cafe Society, about how differently he treats a gangster subplot than anyone else - a lot of it comes with his use of classical and jazz music - which Allen himself humbly says in his book that he uses them to make his movies seem better, but it is also his style of writing dialogue. The ending voice over takes away the cynical view of the film, giving us something to look forward to.
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