{"id":16989,"date":"2017-11-16T13:13:51","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T18:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=16989"},"modified":"2018-04-27T02:08:03","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T06:08:03","slug":"br-september-1987","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=16989","title":{"rendered":"BR: September (1987)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Film<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Standard<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong> Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0September 19, 2017<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Drama<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0A power outage during a planned dinner party reveals secret loves and conflicts that affect an already fragile woman.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Isolated Mono Music & Effects Track \/ Theatrical Trailer \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a> and www.twilighttimemovies.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Released the same year as Radio Days<\/strong>, Woody Allen\u2019s September<\/strong> retains cast members Mia Farrow and Dianne Wiest, but the tone harkens back to the auteur\u2019s Interiors<\/strong> (1978), a more dour and overwrought attempt at Serious Drama. Lacking that film\u2019s emotional histrionics and grimness, September<\/strong> is a more pleasing quiet chamber piece in which six characters drift through short scenes over a roughly 24 hour period.<\/p>\n

Farrow is Lane, the daughter of famous silver screen actress Diane (Elaine Stritch), an overbearing grand dame who genuinely loves her daughter but has poor parental management skills beyond solving crises with the axiom \u2018What\u2019s done is done, and is past.\u2019 The family gathering at the family\u2019s rustic Vermont home includes Diane\u2019s third husband Lloyd (Jack Warden), Lane\u2019s new love Peter (Sam Waterston), and best friend Stephanie (Dianne Wiest).<\/p>\n

The drama starts as the group arrive and Lane prepares what\u2019s supposed to be an evening with another couple, but after bailing, the sextette push on, only to have the merriment frozen due to a power failure. Under the glow of candles and Stephanie continuing the flow of vintage jazz at the piano, the group\u2019s internal relationships and conflicts are slowly peeled back, revealing a curious quandary for Lane: she\u2019s in love with commercial writer \/ failing novelist Peter, who\u2019s separately in love with married mother Stephanie.<\/p>\n

The characters initially gab and philosophize before acting out their emotions, and with Lane discovering the deceit, things sort of implode, but in a civilized European style that doesn\u2019t necessarily destroy relationships, but sends everyone back to their safe corners; emotional risks are shoved back into the closet, including Howard (Denholm Elliott), an older man \/ neighbour who admits to Lane of his growing love.<\/p>\n

The drama comes from the inevitable collision of truths, and although a critical smash-up in the morning is more than a little contrived, the tone of the scenes allows Farrow to strip her character bare, which kind of makes the movie, as does Peter\u2019s dancing around his hunger to touch Stephanie after initially avoiding her, and seeking sage advice in stealth discussions with other characters to build up a bit of courage for that dangerous kiss.<\/p>\n

Allen somewhat designed Lane and Diane after Lana Turner and daughter Cheryl Crane, and their troubled relationship when Crane shot and killed her mother\u2019s abusive lover Johnny Stompanato<\/a>, but it\u2019s really a slight echo, since the crises that sends Lane into a lesser but impactful depression is her goal to sell the house to cover mounting debts, and Diane\u2019s sudden claim of ownership and intent to move back \u2013 probably the film\u2019s most contrived plot maneuver that\u2019s supposed to collapse both the house\u2019s sale and Lane\u2019s shaky recovery – but the drama\u2019s final wrap-up is neat, and Lane\u2019s left back where the film began, only this time she\u2019s able to return to NYC without meandering, if not one-sided romances, duplicitous best friends, and her mother finding other impulsively wrought fixations.<\/p>\n

Unlike the visual coldness of Interiors<\/strong>, Allen\u2019s drama is draped in the soothing, immaculate soft colours of Carlo Di Palma\u2019s extraordinary cinematography, which bathes the actors and intricately decorated set with warm amber, yellows, slight orange, and soft reds. The house and its furniture is all rustic hand-crafted wood, with old glass, pottery, and old tins bearing the names of long-gone vendors.<\/p>\n

The jazz is mostly 1940s, and in a cute in-joke, Stephanie plays Irving Berlin\u2019s \u201cWhat\u2019ll I Do,\u201d which is relevant to Peter\u2019s romantic quandary, but also references Waterston\u2019s co-starring in The Great Gatsby<\/strong> (1974), whose theme song was an especially lush version of Berlin\u2019s tune.<\/p>\n

The drama\u2019s lightness ensures September<\/strong> doesn\u2019t steer close to the bathos within Interiors<\/strong>, and shows Allen finding a more personal balance between his love of small character pieces, Ingmar Bergman\u2019s soft-spoken filmed plays, and a riff of Anthon Chekhov\u2019s 1898 play Uncle Vanya<\/a><\/strong>. All does in fact end well, and broken hearts come from the admission and dismissal of impossible, na\u00efve romantic fantasies. The only question is whether Lane will take the proceeds from the house\u2019s sale and start fresh, or find a small hole where she\u2019ll regress.<\/p>\n

Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray sports a sharp HD transfer that retains the fine grain of the fast film stock which enabled Di Palma to shoot the drama in low light conditions. The audio mix is a clean mono, and the disc includes an isolated mono music & effects track.<\/p>\n

Julie Kirgo\u2019s essay is compact and precise in highlighting the film\u2019s genuine virtues, and it\u2019s curious infamy in being \u201cSeptember 2.0,\u201d a redo after Allen shot the film with a different cast that consisted of Christopher Walken as Peter, Farrow\u2019s real mother Maureen O\u2019Sullivan as Diane, and Charles Durning as Howard.<\/p>\n

Where Interiors<\/strong> mandates several viewings to perhaps warm up to its forced Seriousness, September<\/strong> is a less forced, almost natural effort by Allen to craft a small drama and allow a stellar cast to float in their roles with less directorial restrictions.<\/p>\n

Woody Allen films released by Twilight Time include\u00a0Love and Death<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(1975),Interiors<\/a> <\/strong>(1978),\u00a0Stardust Memories<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(1980),\u00a0Zelig<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(1983),\u00a0Broadway Danny Rose<\/a><\/strong>(1983),\u00a0The Purple Rose of Cairo<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(1985), September<\/strong> (1987), \u00a0Radio Days<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(1987),\u00a0Another Woman<\/a> <\/strong>(1988),\u00a0and\u00a0Crimes and Misdemeanors<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(1989), and the Allen starring in the Red Menace satire\u00a0The Front<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>(1976).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2017 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n