Woody Allen’s commitment to creating feature films so regularly has to be admired. If not the breadth then at least the length of his filmography list is impressive. 2004 was the last full year he did not make a film and he has over-compensated us for that with two films made in both 2012 and 2013. Famously, life in Woody Allen's eyes is just the morbid saga of waiting for death. It is the only certainty we have and so with that logic in mind, his attitude towards his own productivity is to keep it going. But after his latest effort Irrational Man, it’s hard not to think that his measure of productivity is erring more towards quantity rather than quality.
I found Irrational Man boring. I thought it was slow and the characters were wooden. I thought there was a lazy amount of exposition, a jazz soundtrack constant enough to become a drone and I didn’t care what happened by the time the film delivered its moral quandary. It was recognisably a Woody Allen film from its sexed-up tone, confused women and dead-pan one-liners but the story has been done more entertainingly before. Woody Allen’s take on Crime and Punishment is not as good as the original.
**POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT FOR IRRATIONAL MAN (2015) AND CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (1866)***
Killing happens.
In Crime and Punishment, the killing is relatively near the beginning of the book. You’re given just enough time to get your grounding with the protagonist Raskolnikov before you are absolutely plunged into the key event of the book. The moral quandary begins early and the audience is hooked. Another work to follow this start-with-a-bang structure but even more leanly is Hitchcock’s Rope where there is no respite for the culprits in an apparent continuous one-shot scene. Irrational Man on the other hand starts very slowly.
Exposition is built into the story with the first half hour being spent with people talking about how interesting and legendary the new philosophy professor is. Emma Stone keeps telling us her feelings about his arrival through narration instead of just letting us see it. When we do meet Abe, he’s not charismatic even in a philosophical hope-is-lost-for-humanity kind of way. He’s uninteresting and name-drops to impress; his gut being a more substantial argument for discontent in his life than his ‘wise’ insight. But none of the characters seem to draw the conclusion that his reputation does not match his actual personality. They’re all in awe of him. Parker Posey is enamoured by him from start to finish and Emma Stone is dully vulnerable until she clashes morally with him. And Phoenix himself is on cruise control for me and does not bring much to this; there is no awe.
The real difference between Crime and Punishment and Irrational Man is that in one you are in the head of the killer and in the other you are outside it. In C&P, you are with Raskolnikov and you go through all the moral turmoil and desperation that he does. When suspicions are raised, you panic with him. In Irrational Man, the narrator is the person the audiences relate to the most. She (Emma Stone) is a student at the school at the time of Abe Lucas’ (Joaquin Phoenix) arrival and becomes involved with him. The problem, ultimately with the film, is that she is morally steady throughout the film with the only turbulence she goes through being how to juggle two men.
The film seems to be a symptom of his filmmaking method; one seemingly rushed idea without much innovative substance. I’m not saying all his recent films are like this. I really enjoyed Midnight in Paris (2011) and Blue Jasmine (2013) – itself is a stylistic take on A Streetcar Named Desire. But a few lemons can be expected when working to such tight deadlines. And Irrational Man is a lemon but it was written in May 2014, began filming in July and wrapped up in August. Abe Lucas even says at one point : “Isn’t it funny that you produce your best work when you have a deadline?” On this occasion Abe and Woody, I’m going to disagree.
Waste of time? Yes 2/5.
I found Irrational Man boring. I thought it was slow and the characters were wooden. I thought there was a lazy amount of exposition, a jazz soundtrack constant enough to become a drone and I didn’t care what happened by the time the film delivered its moral quandary. It was recognisably a Woody Allen film from its sexed-up tone, confused women and dead-pan one-liners but the story has been done more entertainingly before. Woody Allen’s take on Crime and Punishment is not as good as the original.
**POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT FOR IRRATIONAL MAN (2015) AND CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (1866)***
Killing happens.
In Crime and Punishment, the killing is relatively near the beginning of the book. You’re given just enough time to get your grounding with the protagonist Raskolnikov before you are absolutely plunged into the key event of the book. The moral quandary begins early and the audience is hooked. Another work to follow this start-with-a-bang structure but even more leanly is Hitchcock’s Rope where there is no respite for the culprits in an apparent continuous one-shot scene. Irrational Man on the other hand starts very slowly.
Exposition is built into the story with the first half hour being spent with people talking about how interesting and legendary the new philosophy professor is. Emma Stone keeps telling us her feelings about his arrival through narration instead of just letting us see it. When we do meet Abe, he’s not charismatic even in a philosophical hope-is-lost-for-humanity kind of way. He’s uninteresting and name-drops to impress; his gut being a more substantial argument for discontent in his life than his ‘wise’ insight. But none of the characters seem to draw the conclusion that his reputation does not match his actual personality. They’re all in awe of him. Parker Posey is enamoured by him from start to finish and Emma Stone is dully vulnerable until she clashes morally with him. And Phoenix himself is on cruise control for me and does not bring much to this; there is no awe.
The real difference between Crime and Punishment and Irrational Man is that in one you are in the head of the killer and in the other you are outside it. In C&P, you are with Raskolnikov and you go through all the moral turmoil and desperation that he does. When suspicions are raised, you panic with him. In Irrational Man, the narrator is the person the audiences relate to the most. She (Emma Stone) is a student at the school at the time of Abe Lucas’ (Joaquin Phoenix) arrival and becomes involved with him. The problem, ultimately with the film, is that she is morally steady throughout the film with the only turbulence she goes through being how to juggle two men.
The film seems to be a symptom of his filmmaking method; one seemingly rushed idea without much innovative substance. I’m not saying all his recent films are like this. I really enjoyed Midnight in Paris (2011) and Blue Jasmine (2013) – itself is a stylistic take on A Streetcar Named Desire. But a few lemons can be expected when working to such tight deadlines. And Irrational Man is a lemon but it was written in May 2014, began filming in July and wrapped up in August. Abe Lucas even says at one point : “Isn’t it funny that you produce your best work when you have a deadline?” On this occasion Abe and Woody, I’m going to disagree.
Waste of time? Yes 2/5.