'When you wish upon a star......'
This famous tune accompanies the end credits and sums up the theme of Woody's little movie.
Be careful what you wish for..........
- Everlasting youth
- Immortality
- Reincarnation
- The pretty girl next girl
- Your handsome boss
- Your own successful business
- A son of your own
- A successful novel
All the usual stereotypical wishes that we think will fulfill us, this is a study of human desire and perceived need. What and who we will give up to make our wishes come true, and how we delude ourselves and often regret and repent at our leisure. It's a study of selfishness and greed that spans generational, social strata and racial boundaries.
In other words, it's a pretty typical Woody Allen film.
It starts like an episode of 'Thirtysomething' with an unfulfilled marriage at its centre - a young, bright couple struggling to match their own high expectations and keep alight the candle of romance and hope that brought them together in the first place.
The film is almost completely dialogue driven and watches like a stage play at times, with long one-take scenes of sharp discourse between the players.
Every main character is intelligent, attractive and interesting. Many are successful and affluent, and yet with so much going for them they cannot find contentment, with each other or with themselves. Angst is their over-riding state - yet more Woody staples.
I thought the acting was excellent, and in particular Noami Watts, the hub around whom all the spokes radiate. But then the cast is just superb - Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones and Freida Pinto also stand out.
The stereotypical London scenes of large houses divided into flats, black cabs and pouring rain are not allowed to detract, or add, to the story being told. This story could be set in any city in the world - these characters exist in all big cities.
So what of Anna Friel? Did you think I wouldn't tell you!
Anna has just two short scenes - one with the Antonio Banderas gallery owner and Naomi Watts characters and the other just with Naomi's character. Anna's accent always creates interest and in these scenes I can't tell if she's speaking Irish, American or Rochdale - she seems to meld them all. But then she is playing an ex-druggie, ex-alcoholic, chain-smoking artist (of the painter type).
Anyway, although a very small role, Anna's innocuous second scene starts the sequence of twists and turns as the selfish schemes of the main protagonists start to unravel before them. What was oh so obvious to everyone watching is gradually played out before the camera to the surprise and often despair of the characters.
As a record in Anna's portfolio of work this is but a small punctuation, but I guess the opportunity to work with Woody Allen for just a short time will have added to Anna's insight into the art of movie-making.
As a film in its own right I wouldn't normally watch this and I didn't find it particularly entertaining and only mildly interesting. The themes have all been explored before and in more depth than this 94-minute snapshot.
I guess Woody enjoyed making the movie and working with some truly polished performers and they probably enjoyed the experience as well.
Anyway, I've attached a vidcap from the second of Anna's two scenes and you can never get enough of her pretty face looking out at you from the cinema, TV or computer screen.
In this bit Anna's saying, 'He told me I came to him in his dreams.'
Be careful what you wish for.......... and what you dream of
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