The Ultimate Woody Allen Film Companion

In 'The Ultimate Woody Allen Film Companion', film writer Jason Bailey profiles every one of Allen's films through essays, behind-the-scenes interviews, full cast lists, production details, and full-color images and artwork

Edited by two renowned Allen experts, A Companion to Woody Allen presents a collection of 26 original essays on the director’s films. Contributions offer a number of divergent critical perspectives while expanding the contexts in which his work is understood. A timely companion by the authors of two of the most important books on Allen to date Illuminates the films of Woody Allen from a number of divergent critical perspectives Explores the contexts in which his work should be understood Assesses Allen’s remarkable filmmaking career from its early beginnings and investigates the conflicts and contradictions that suffuse it Discusses Allen’s recognition as a global cinematic figure

Edited by two renowned Allen experts, A Companion to Woody Allen presents a collection of 26 original essays on the director’s films. Contributions offer a number of divergent critical perspectives while expanding the contexts in which his work is understood. A timely companion by the authors of two of the most important books on Allen to date Illuminates the films of Woody Allen from a number of divergent critical perspectives Explores the contexts in which his work should be understood Assesses Allen’s remarkable filmmaking career from its early beginnings and investigates the conflicts and contradictions that suffuse it Discusses Allen’s recognition as a global cinematic figure

This reference work consists of entries on every film, television, stage, and literary work by Woody Allen. The volume also includes entries on people (actors, producers, writers, etc.) who have worked with Allen as well as various topics (acting roles, awards, themes, film locations, etc.).

Over a career that has spanned more than six decades, Woody Allen has explored the emotion of regret as a response to the existentialist dilemma of not being someone else. Tracing this recurrent theme from his stand-up comedy routines and apprentice work through classics like Annie Hall, Manhattan, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Bullets Over Broadway as well as less esteemed accomplishments (Another Woman, Sweet and Lowdown, Cassandra's Dream), this volume argues that it is ultimately the shallowness of his protagonists' regret—their lack of deeply felt, sustained remorse—that defines Allen's pervasive view of human experience. Drawing on insights from philosophy, theology, psychology, and literature, the book discusses nearly every Woody Allen film, with extended analyses of the relationship films (including Alice and Husbands and Wives), the murder tetralogy (including Match Point and Irrational Man), the self-reflexive films (including Stardust Memories and Deconstructing Harry), and the movies about nostalgia (including Radio Days and Midnight in Paris). The book concludes by considering Allen's most affirmative resolution of regret (Broadway Danny Rose) and speculating about the relevance of this through-line for understanding Allen's personal life and prospects as an octogenarian auteur.

This book analyses and describes a segment of Woody Allen’s cinematic discourse, focusing specifically on the performed (or diegetic) interactions between actors in various roles in some of his films. It is a case study of Woody Allen's cinematic discourse, encompassing the on-screen, performed interaction in the films at the level of the story-world. The analysis focuses on speech (film dialogues), in both its verbal and prosodic forms, as well as non-verbal types of interaction including gaze and gesture, taking a social interactional approach and using multimodal conversation analysis as a theoretical framework and analytical tool. The 'texts' under study are segments from five films by Woody Allen, and the analysed interactions take place between male and female interactants, which allows further examination of on-screen interactions via a gender lens. The book aims to bridge the gap between the disciplines of applied linguistics and cinema studies and offer linguistic insights into performed interactions from a multimodal point of view. It will be equally relevant to linguists who are interested in how verbal and non-verbal language is used in cinematic discourse, as well as to film workers, especially actors, directors and screenwriters.

Since its release, Annie Hall has established itself as a key film for Woody Allen's career and the history of romantic comedy more generally. At the 1978 Academy Awards, it won Oscars for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress and is regularly cited as one of the greatest film comedies ever released, credited with influencing directors such as Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, Richard Linklater, Greta Gerwig and Desiree Akhavan. This lively collection brings a new ethical and philosophical perspective to bear on Allen's work quite different from previous generations of scholars. At the same time as exploring the film's continuing influence on contemporary cinema, this book's contributors engage explicitly and implicitly with ongoing debates about Allen's cinematic output following the renewal of accusations against Allen by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow in 2014 and 2018. The book is alive to debates within film studies about the limits of auteur theory and the role of the spectator.