Review of Love and Death (2013) by Steve W — 23 Feb 2015

Woody Allen's parody of Dostoyevsky is the perfect place to start in my month-long look at the director's films. There's nothing that the Brooklyn-born writer/director loves exploring more than the titular themes of this film. Moreover, 19th century Russian literature is ripe with the same concepts of unrequited romance, moral philosophy & absurdists nihilism.

Boris Grushenko is a middle-class Russian who is in love with his cousin, Sonja, who in-turn love his brother Ivan. When Napoleon invades Austria the pacifist, coward Boris is forced to join the Russian army on the front-lines against the French.

Of all of Allen's "earlier, funnier" movies this is my favorite. It hits on all the themes that he so loves to explore, but it never takes itself too serious. Here he's channeling Chaplin & Groucho Marx with the subversive wit of his own brainy writing style. There are as many jokes-per-minute as in Airplane! and they range from idiotic to ingenious. There are too many to name here, but his father's land, and recipes for snow are among the best. The beautiful Diane Keaton shines as Sonja, his unhappy cousin who is constantly starting philosophical debates about subjective morality & emptiness while wearing absurd coats & hats.

The hidden gem of this movie is the beautiful visual photography of the battlefields, country landscapes, and opulent palaces. It's not often Allen made historical films, so to see this level of detail is very impressive.