MovieChat Forums > Love and Death (1975) Discussion > Thoughts on Love and Death

Thoughts on Love and Death

posted 15 years ago by WingsOfWax
4 replies | jump to latest

Love and Death is the kind of Allen movie I prefer. The sillyness is almost overwhelming, almost python-esque at times. The jokes are non-stop, and few of them dissapoint. There's almost no drama in this one; nothing is taken seriously, neither love nor death. This movie does not take itself too seriously, and I really like that. Unpretentiousness at its best.

The most amazing thing about this movie is that is doesn't feel dated. After watching Annie Hall a few months ago, I thought that movie was good, but all the things that were groundbreaking back when it was released are so common now, that it wasn't that special.

Maybe I'm just partial to this kind of humour. It can be a little exhausting at times, as it never lets go of that silly tone, but for what it is, it is spot on.

[–] AhaVanuR_24 15 years ago

Annie Hall was groundbreaking? Really? I didn't know that. One more reason to like the movie.

I finally kind of get the philosophical tangents that Keaton goes off on. It's pretyt funny actually. Subjectivity is objective.

I like Sleeper more than this, although they're both great.

My favorite is the Hygiene play. The part of the doctor was played with great gusto and verve.

Believe me, you don't want Hannibal Lecter inside your head."

[–] smoko 10 years ago

@AhaVanuR_24 Although [Annie Hall] is not essentially experimental, at several points it undermines the narrative reality. In one famous scene, Allen's character, in line to see a movie with Annie, listens to a man behind him deliver misinformed pontifications on the significance of Fellini and Marshall McLuhan's work. Allen pulls McLuhan himself from just off camera to personally correct the man's errors. Later in the film, when we see Annie and Alvy in their first extended talk, "mental subtitles" convey to the audience the characters' nervous inner doubts. An animated scene—with artwork based on the comic strip Inside Woody Allen—depicts Alvy and Annie in the guise of the Wicked Queen from Snow White.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Hall#Style_and_technique

[–] tomkaren1994 11 years ago

I have had a completely different view. I always thought this movie was, at its core, a movie about the tragedy of war. Woody Allen called Love and Death one of the scariest movies he ever made.

btw - I've never laughed harder at any other movie.

[–] godrex-652-363153 11 years ago

Totally agree. Annie Hall does feel terribly dated to me. L&D is a movie that I can watch one a year or so and still get many great laughs - even knowing all of the jokes. Definitely Woody at his best.