Review of Wild Man Blues (1997) by Harry W — 03 May 2014

Woody Allen is a strange and get interesting man, and it is notable that practically all his films make use of Jazz music. So a documentary about him and his passions would be interesting.

Jazz music is an interesting tune, and a documentary covering it really needs to focus on someone who has a serious passion for it. And Woody Allen is the perfect choice for that because he has a great passion for the music which he reveals himself to consider the music as his idea of art, and it reveals just how he naturally loves it when he plays it. Wild Man Blues shows Woody Allen playing music and interacting with people in casual situations, so it is an entertaining profile of him which doesn't label him as anything. It doesn't emphasise him as a filmmaker or solely as a musican, it simply shows him as a normal man with versatile passions. And frankly, his natural charm as a person makes the experience of the film entertaining enough even within its limitations simply as a casual documentary about the man during day to day experiences.

As most of Woody Allen's films depict complicated romantic relationships between him playing someone and another woman, Wild Man Blues serves as a front to see what it is really like to be the woman in his life. And as it comes from the year 1997, the year that his relationship with his ex-partner's adopted daughter became public, Wild Man Blues serves as a representation of the kind of relationship that Woody Allen shares with Soon-Yi Priven and contrasts him to the stereotypical nebbish which he always seems to find himself playing. It reveals his natural charm and his respect for people, disregarding the stereotype of the sexual predator which many people label him as. Wild Man Blues reveals the kind of normal man that Woody Allen is and focuses mostly on his day to day life as well as his passion for Jazz music while touching lightly upon his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn. So Wild Man Blues is a nice documentary look at Woody Allen. Though it isn't as deep as I might have hoped and it's subject matter is very limited, Wild Man Blues.

There isn't too much to say about a documentary like Wild Man Blues because it doesn't have too much to cover, but it manages to cover it all well with fine cinematography and an honest look at its character and it's subject matter. It isn't particularly deep, but it does the job.

So Wild Man Blues is a fair look at Woody Allen over the course of several days. It doesn't have too much material to delve into, but it does it well and is an honest film which reveals his passion for Jazz music.