Review of Shadows and Fog (1991) by Brian R — 10 Feb 2012

This is not one of Woody Allen's best film. I was distracted by the story and of Allen who plays a nervous clerk sent out by his vigilante friends to keep a look out for a serial killer. Then the story involves a couple who works at a circus, they break apart because the husband is caught of adultury, so the wife (Mia Farrow) runs away and meets a prostitute (Lily Tomlin) who offers her to stay for the night but is offered $700 by a clientele (John Cusack). Then the Farrow character gets busted by the cops and is ordered to pay a fine and finally meets Allen's character to find the lurking serial killer.

The slapstick humour was so plain and wasteful I wasn't really laughing because I thought to myself and said "Haven't I've seen this suff before?" Towards the end of the film I didn't care if Allen and his cast found the killer or not because the movie already dived and bombed. There is an excellent all star cast and a tremendous black and white look reminiscent to the films of German Expressionism and film noir, but imo it is better to rent or watch those films on DVD/TCM. If one is going to pay homage, might as well make it compelling and moving like "The Artist". "Shadows And Fog" is not a success.