Back on home territory, after a sojourn on the continent, Woody Allen has reunited with his muse, New York City for Whatever Works. The hits and misses of his European period have not dented his enthusiasm for witty, neurotic musings on life, love and religion. His purist fans must be delighted he is back in the Big Apple after five years, returning to the landscape that inspired Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters - films that have given Woody Allen his exulted status as a director.
Whatever Works follows the story of an aging suicidal misanthropic physics genius, Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David). This is a man who has got the self-destruct button firmly in sight, unable to understand the how or why of happiness. Boris is rude, funny and ultimately confused by life. Eking out a living as the worst children’s chess teacher ever, he spends his time preaching his beliefs about life, love and religion to his friends and whoever else gets in his way. Boris’ life takes an unusual twist when he has a chance encounter with a southern teenage runaway, Melody St. Ann Celestine (Evan Rachel Wood). She is the polar opposite of Boris; sweet, young, pretty, naïve and somewhat dumb (in an amusing beauty pageant kinda way).
This unlikely pairing sees Woody Allen further explore themes of chance and love that are constants in his body of work. The premise of old man and much younger women is also an emblematic theme of Allen’s. The film has a lot of theatrical traits that come out in the staging and dialogue direction. Allen’s work often has play-like qualities as he explores the parameters of film. This gives Whatever Works certain brechtian sensibilities, constantly winking at the camera as Boris, our main protagonist, acknowledges the conceit, that this is all just a film and make- believe.
The script for Whatever Works was originally written in the 70s for actor Zero Mostel. After his death the script was shelved while Allen waited for an actor he felt could bring the right humour to the role. He found Larry David, whose own shows Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm have characters who display similar neuroses to Woody Allen’s. Larry David’s sardonic comedy as Boris, a man whose catchphrase is ‘whatever works’, has a patter to it that will play much better to those already familiar with his work.
The standout performances are without question those of Evan Rachel Wood and Patricia Clarkson. Wood is doing a fantastic job at choosing varied roles; here as Melody St Ann Celestine, she shows us a good-natured southern gal, open to life’s possibilities. Melody is able to be both influenced by New York and its cosmopolitanism as well as influencing the world weary New Yorkers she encounters. Patricia Clarkson as Melody’s mother, Marietta, conducts a master-class in acting. Marietta’s story arc could and would have been a cliché in less experienced and skilled hands, but Clarkson’s performance is fabulous.
Although Whatever Works is not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, it is funny and clever, with some lovely one-liners and great female characters. Allen’s musings on the role of chance and the ideas on love are interesting as he uses the film to question; what is love? Who should we love? Are we in charge of our own fate? Is there such a thing as the ‘one’ or simply the right one(s) for the right time? These are all questions we can ponder for a few hours after the film, until we are once again assaulted with the messages of traditional rom-coms promising us the fairytale romance and the elusive one true soul-mate.
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Australian Release Date 15th October
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Conleth Hill, Michael Mckean, Ed Begley Jr., Henry Cavill
