Review of September (1987) by Ian S — 13 Jul 2008

I really wanted to love it, given that it's Woody Allen and all, but there's simply nothing here to get crazy about. It's dull, pointless, overlong, and poorly paced. Immediately it gives off a sort of late Bergman drama type vibe, with the small cast in a single setting and a lack of action, but unlike Bergman who will take those elements in something so mundane like in "Through a Glass Darkly" and create with the same components a dark, chilling contemplation on God, love, and sanity, Allen here merely comes up with weird love triangles between characters we're not even given a chance to care about before their shaky love lives are thrust on us in an attempt at compassion.

None of the romances feel real, and the dialogue borders on daytime soap opera qualities. I appreciate that Allen is stepping into something different that isn't his usual schtick, but it's frustrating to see him do completely away with what his strengths are.

"Crimes and Misdemeanors" works superbly because the more serious tale is broken up with a much more comedic story about a struggling director and his pathetic little adulterous fling. "September" offers no laughs and grounds itself on the strength of its acting and its script, and the script is as muddy a grounding as Allen could possibly have come up with.

It's superficial and offers nothing to read into. The acting is overall superb, as is so often the case, which at least does salvage the film from being a complete disaster. In all, I can't recommend this except to the completionist Woody Allen fanatic who simply must see every film the man has ever done, but then, a recommendation isn't really in order there, now is it?