Review of My Dinner with Andre (1981) by Mitchell W — 10 Jan 2008

In some ways a guilty pleasure. For the most part, it's a two-man dinner conversation in real-time, which sounds really limited in its cinematic potential. It works as a film for two reasons - one, having close-ups on screen really helps, giving a connection and an intimacy that would've been lost over the course of two static hours on stage.

Two, the content of the conversation and its sincere, thoughtful delivery - to call this pretentious or overly intellectual misses the point completely. This is about asking the questions everyone should be asking of themselves.

The picture revolves around two arguments: a case for easy comforts because for most people, that's all you can really ask for and the most you can get, and an argument for something more transcendant.

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