Review of Stardust Memories (1980) by Karlo M — 01 Feb 2010

Sandy Bates, or rather, Mister Bates is lost in the throes of his new film. His big wig producers who prefer his early comedic work, are afraid that it just might be too bleak and artsy for the good of the general public.

In the meantime, Mr. Bates spends a weekend at the Stardust hotel where a retrospective of his work is being shown to many adoring writers, critics, and salivating fans. Oh, and of course, Bates is amidst his own existential crisis, all he really wants is a little bit of down time.

.. Visually, Stardust Memories makes no bones about quoting from its original source material (Fellini's 81/2) and Allen manages to distinguish Stardust enough with a good wallop of his own idiosyncratic neurotic self-analysis to give the film its own legs to stand on.

Unfortunately its excessive indulgence on Bergman-esque existential subject matter (the other source material) seem only that... a superficial imitation without the sincerity of his predecessor. The writing and perhaps Allen's performance of himself (ironically enough) is unconvincing.

Instead, it comes across as a whiney piece of work from a director who seems content only in declaring his influences with a complete disregard to character development. Maybe a little less of Fellini, less Bergman, and more Woody would have really pushed this film forward beyond itself.