{"id":8860,"date":"2014-05-19T13:23:59","date_gmt":"2014-05-19T17:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8860"},"modified":"2017-03-17T03:22:12","modified_gmt":"2017-03-17T07:22:12","slug":"br-crimes-and-misdemeanors-1989","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8860","title":{"rendered":"BR: Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

Transfer<\/strong>: Excellent\/ Extras<\/strong>: Good<\/p>\n

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

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

Released:<\/strong> \u00a0February 14, 2014<\/p>\n

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

Synopsis:<\/strong> An\u00a0ophthalmologist contemplates his brother’s offer to ‘erase’ a persistent lover before his marriage and career are ruined.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Mono Isolated 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>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\u201cA strange man defecated on my sister.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In spite of the dark material that permeates Woody Allen\u2019s Oscar-nominated film (Best Director \/ Screenplay \/ Actor Landau), there\u2019s a genuine lightness to this otherwise grim tale of an ophthalmologist who reluctantly agrees to take the advice of his street-smart brother Jack (Jerry Orbach) and kill an obsessed lover Dolores (Angelica Huston) bent on exposing an illicit relationship and embezzling.<\/p>\n

Eye doctor Judah Rosenthal (Martin Landau) isn\u2019t really a bad man \u2013 he\u2019s actually quite beloved, respected, and maintains a decent life in spite of sharing his aunt\u2019s cynicism for religion \u2013 and so his transgression feels like a desperate reaction after clarifying with Dolores he will neither divorce nor continue to have \u2018business trips\u2019 with his emotionally reactive lover.<\/p>\n

END SPOILER ALERT<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The murder, however, isn\u2019t the focus of the film, but Judah\u2019s grappling with guilt, the validity of faith, and his coming to terms with a morally repellent act \u2013 the latter tackled in a wry, simple scene (captured in the film\u2019s poster art) that\u2019s beautifully played at the end, and confirms for audiences that for Judah, everything turns out just fine (much in the way that Michael Caine\u2019s manipulative actions in A Shock to the System<\/strong> go unpunished because murder was the only option to ensure self-preservation).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

END OF SPOILER<\/p>\n

Judah\u2019s story also functions as the architecture around which the smaller stories of relatives occasionally bump into each other. Allen plays Cliff, a documentary filmmaker hired to shoot a day-in-the-life puff piece on his arrogant brother-in-law Lester (Alan Alda), an Emmy Award-winning TV comedy genius. That story strand opens up small dramas of his lonely sister, his \u2018platonic\u2019 wife Wendy (Joanna Gleason), and a producer, Halley (Mia Farrow), within whom he attempts a courtship through their mutual love of classic movies.<\/p>\n

Cliff\u2019s hopeless efforts to start his own love affair contrasts the destructive path of Judah\u2019s relationship with Dolores, and Lester\u2019s courting of Halley shows another facet of the film\u2019s depiction of ordinary people searching quite hungrily for love.<\/p>\n

Judah\u2019s inevitable grappling with faith begins during the eye examinations with wise rabbi (Sam Waterston), a genial man suffering from an irreversible eye condition who still \u2018sees\u2019 the moral pathways in life (get it?). Their discussions are pre-murder, whereas Judah\u2019s vital post-murder dialogue occurs in a key scene where he converses with the ghosts of his family at a childhood sader where personality quirks and aspects of faith are knocked around the dinner table like a ping-pong ball.<\/p>\n

Crimes<\/strong> is a beautifully written & performed film, with Landau giving one of his best performances after spending years playing small supporting characters, and sort of trapped in rather banal, predictable TV series (especially Space: 1999<\/strong>). Sven Nykvist\u2019s cinematography is gorgeous in this sharp HD transfer, and the set designs are so tasteful, few elements look dated.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s also a curious time capsule of long-gone \/ outmoded technology. Cliff\u2019s routine matinees to repertory cinemas seem quaint after neighbourhood movie houses offering double and triple bills were soon to be replaced by home video, cable TV, and on demand services; Halley\u2019s cellphone is shocking for its brick-like bulk and retractable antenna; and Cliff\u2019s office \/ editing room is filled with the chunky gear and paraphernalia of 16mm filmmaking which is now the rare exception.<\/p>\n

(To the other end, there\u2019s a cute scene where Cliff convinces Halley to stay the evening and watch his personal print of Singin\u2019 in the Rain<\/strong> on his Steenbeck editing console. For contemporary audiences, the scene may evoke the habit of present day people watching a movie on a laptop in bed because of convenience, and a peculiar sense of intimacy that comes from being so close in a personal space with a movie. At one point Allen the filmmaker, thru Cliff, exclaims to Halley \u2018this is the best way to watch a movie.\u2019)<\/p>\n

Allen also directs certain scenes with a slight documentary quality, of which the most interesting are the arguments between Judah and Dolores in her apartment: the camera\u2019s sometimes softly hand-held, and whether due to the location\u2019s limited size or by the director\u2019s design, the visual obstruction by kitchen cabinets and not always seeing actors\u2019 faces makes viewers feel like interlopers or nosey folks peering from a distance as a relationship privately disintegrates.<\/p>\n

Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray features the film +\u00a0 a theatrical trailer, a mono isolated music & effects track, and Julie Kirgo\u2019s essay provides a good overview of the film\u2019s themes and enduring qualities within Allen\u2019s massive filmography.<\/p>\n

Woody Allen films released by Twilight Time include Love and Death<\/a><\/strong> (1975), Interiors\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>(1978), Stardust Memories<\/a><\/strong> (1980),\u00a0Zelig<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(1983), Broadway Danny Rose<\/a><\/strong> (1983), The Purple Rose of Cairo<\/a><\/strong> (1985), Radio Days<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(1987), and Crimes and Misdemeanors<\/strong>(1989), and the Allen starring in the Red Menace satire The Front<\/a> <\/strong>(1976).<\/p>\n

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

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

\u00a9 2014 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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

\n

 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nIMDB<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a genuine lightness to this otherwise grim tale of an ophthalmologist who reluctantly agrees to take the advice of his street-smart brother Jack and kill an obsessed lover Dolores bent on exposing an illicit relationship and embezzling…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[2785,2786,2784],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2iU","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8860"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15598,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8860\/revisions\/15598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}