Word: wildness
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...with which he "performs"? A man who tours Europe in a band, who has made one movie a year for two decades, and whose most private relationships are themselves so inherently sensational is hardly giving a false image of himself by putting on a show. The Woody Allen of Wild Man Blues may or not be "the real Woody Allen," whatever that means, but his jokes, confessions, and worries all ring true when held against one another...
...Kopple or cinematographer Tom Hurwitz use their camera merely to point and shoot. A staggering, insidious myth of documentary filmmaking is that craft is somehow absent, that the lack of actors and scripts translates to films that make themselves. Moreover, because of the twice-Oscared Kopple's towering reputation, Wild Man Blues bears the brand of a "vacation film"; as with Scorsese's Cape Fear or Coppola and Altman's recent Grisham adaptations, the idea of Kopple filming a celebrity bio sounds on paper like a hard-working master taking a crowd-pleasing breather...
...these allegations are unfair of almost any film project, and certainly fail to acknowledge what Kopple has accomplished in Wild Man Blues Nothing here will make anyone forget Harlan County USA, the landmark documentary she made about union strikes among Kentucky coalminers, but craftsmanship and wit are as present here as in her more socially-minded, dramatic work...
Which brings us to the Soon-Yi question.Without a doubt, one of Wild Man Blues'sbig selling points is its unprecedented accessinto the Woody/Soon-Yi relationship, which provesto be both nervily discomfiting and prosaicallynormal. Soon-Yi herself, whose first line in thefilm is "Yeah," comes across as a profoundlyhesitant and unformed personality, with littlefaith in her own convictions or conversation.Nevertheless, she earnestly tries to support andencourage Woody, and to prevent his anxieties fromcompromising his friendships, as when she stressesthe importance of praising his bandmates...
...Wild Man Blues is a lively, belly-laughcomedy that neither cheapens its subjects forlaughs nor reveres him too much to make fun ofhim. Of the non-documentary films released so farthis year, only Love and Death on LongIsland maintains such jubilant gigglesalongside real psychological acuity and with realdramatic flair. Woody Allen himself is filming ascript called Celebrity to be released thisfall. He will be well-challenged to study andvitalize the phenomenon of fame as sharply andengagingly as Kopple does here