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Crimes and Misdemeanors
In a staggering career of quality filmmaking, with no less than five masterpieces to his credit, Crimes and Misdemeanors is technically Woody Allen's greatest accomplishment — a chilling, cynical, hilarious, profoundly stirring, and deeply moving film about the human soul and philosophies of survival. In parallel stories, Martin Landau stars as revered opthamologist Judah Rosenthal and Woody Allen stars as non-revered documentary filmmaker Cliff Stern. Both men are facing life crises of sorts, yet drastically different in tone. In order to finance his intimate film about a thoughtful philosopher, Cliff suffers the indignity of profiling his vapid brother-in-law (Alan Alda), who happens to be a rich and successful producer of television pap. Judah, on the other hand, is facing a much darker trial as an ex-mistress (Anjelica Huston) threatens to ruin his life by contacting his wife and exposing his financial irregularities. In handling these two contrasting stories, Allen effortlessly executes a masterful balancing act between light and dark, by turns chilling and endearingly funny, not to mention deeply resonant on issues of guilt, conscience, and moral consequence. Also with Mia Farrow (naturally), Sam Waterston, Jerry Orbach, Joanna Gleason, and, briefly, Daryl Hannah. Presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) with audio in Dolby 2.0 mono. Trailer, keep-case.
—Gregory P. Dorr
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