Word: stardusted
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...they should enjoy this competently acted and produced play, partly because of Rocky Horror's inherent bizarre charm, partly because of the shared in-joke it represents. Though little in the play is likely to diminish the movie in the eyes of true believers, some nice touches are evident. Stardust Memories actress C.J. Critt, as Columbia, Frank N. Furter's groupie, adds a freaked-out Haight Ashbury spaciness to her role; baton twirler champion Dennis Daniels portrays glistening muscle-god Rocky Horror, a Neanderthal in the film whose most eloquent line is "ugh!" with wit and gymnastic talent; and Steve...
...MANY WAYS, STARDUST MEMORIES is just another bad showbiz memoir: Behind the scenes with Woody; On the set with Woody; In bed with Woody; Despair with a Woody; Death with Woody, chapter after chapter of intimate details, full of frustration with the medium, anger at the critics and fans, tempestuous words spilled over mundane problems. He does act--his life changes--but we never see the changes occur. He marks the passing of time by the various women who warm to his gentle nudging...
Allen treats these women poorly, a surprising twist after his affairs with Diane Keaton in Annie Hall and Manhattan. Three women sub for Keaton in Stardust Memories, and while each is superb, their roles are strangely limiting. Charlotte Rampling, a beautiful cross between Lauren Hutton and Lauren Bacall, plays Keaton opposite Allen's Allen. In one tortuous montage of second long takes, her teary face flashes over and over, unable to finish a sentence, to complete a thought, to cry. She is the troubled object of Allen's obsessions, and though we learn her past, and even her future...
Much about Stardust Memories, even the ugliness, is beautiful. Having passed through his Brown period (Interiors), Allen emerges in his Black & White period as a spectacular director who masterfully designs long takes and exciting compositions. He enjoys the metaphorical blank screeen, toys with soundtrack blasts and whispers with the control of a superb cinematic technician. One shot, a wide landscape that turns Allen's dancing silhouette into a contemporary fiddler on the roof, is absolutely gorgeous. Allen's expert eye and ear are matched by the steady hand of Gordon Willis (who shot Manhattan) behind the camera...
...critics, "too much reality is not what the people want." "Yeah, but I've got to find meaning," insists Woody, as if his jokes have no "meaning." It's a shame, but the fantasy-worlds of his "early comedies" held more meaning than all the self-important intellectualizing of Stardust Memories...