Subscribe Now

Whatever works, Woody Allen remains himself

At first a visiting card of Woody Allen movies was an old crab as a main character. In the later period - old crab. And, of course, the biggest director's love New York, in which action develops.

If an old crab happens to be a neurotic pouring literary humor pearls in a nervy way, W.Allen performs him himself. If it happens differently, another non-standard actor is invited.



In „Whatever Works“ („Whatever Works“) Larry David became an old hobbling growler Boris Yellnikoff - former nuclear physicist. Once he was a kind of nominated for Nobel. Therefore now, or maybe the entire life, he never loses an opportunity to repeat that he is a genius and most of people round about are not.

One day, to be precise, one night, an oppressive elucidation strikes already a pensioner Boris. He understands that a moment of dying comes inevitable. Therefore a guy decides not to waste time for the life he is fed up with: leaves his wife, his house in a prestigious place of New York and goes to live in the flat where he is able to feel bohemian. He earns his living sneering children who he teaches in the city parks and yards.

What is more, one evening sitting in a coffee-bar with his friends Boris even cusses out a mother of one of his pupils who came to defend his son. After hearing a tirade of sarcastic offences for a women, friends politely say goodbye and leaves genius alone. He has nothing else to do except gimping home. But near his landing Boris meets a homeless girl Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood). A girl is begging for a bit of bread but actually moves to live with Boris.

Melodie, a naive runaway from province, soon tunes in a role of a listener of Boris contemplations and gets her part as a lower species hat in hand. However, as it often happens in movies about an acquaintance of elderly grumbler and young cutie, she has what to give to old infirm Knickerbocker. A peace of joy of life, for example.

That is as a kind of matter of course, as a kind of unexpected that Boris and Melode becomes husband anw wife. Perhaps mainly because Melodie doesn't have with whom to compare Boris and his character. But the real string of misunderstandings begins when runaway Melodie's mother appears on doorstep and when Melodie's father shows up looking for his wife. Naturally, both faints after hearing about the changes of their daughter's life. However, soon New York helps them to discover their real callings.

All this time Boris grumbles without a break and W.Allen amuses in his traditional ways: snappy humor of his dialogies and monologies, the oddity of the human relations and queer life situations. What can be paid for the scene, when Boris, declaring thet religion is only superstitions, washes his hands singing a birthay song, because this defends from microbs.

All in all, it is 92 minutes of good all W.Allen and a bunch of reasons to start contemplating, what indeed means in the cinema when character is looking into the camera.