Broadway Danny Rose (1984)

Broadway Danny Rose (1984)

Written and Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow

I really enjoyed this because it's been a while since I watched a Woody Allen film. This film has some classic trademarks of a Woody Allen film - an amazingly written woman, Tina - she's introduced a while into the film and one of the best qualities of Allen's writing is that - he doesn't take more than 5 minutes to introduce a character no matter how layered and sub-textual it is. Even in this film, Tina is such an elusive, interesting character - but you see her for 5 minutes and you feel like you know this person. You start to feel character consistency and yet he maintains that mystery so that we have something to unfold as the film progresses. The film is set in Broadway and Gordon Willis - the legendary cinematographer - beautifully captures the world shooting most of the scenes in deep focus. Tina is an absolute stunner of a character - right from her hair, her styling to her body language to the way she talks - a beautifully designed character. 

I like how the story is narrated - I've never seen this before. A bunch of friends meet at a cafe, and one of them is narrating the story of Danny Rose to his friends. So in a way, the entire film is just part of an evening conversation. Imagine having such evenings every once in a while, listening to different stories of people, having a few laughs. It's beautiful. Even in this film, I think the "plot" - the gangsters chasing them is just a thin tool to keep the film going. But the film in its core is the conversations and the jokes. I like how the film gets to a point of low when Danny Rose is fired, and then the film gets back with the climax. A perfect Woody Allen outing this is!