Review of Woody Allen: A Documentary (2011) by David F — 07 Feb 2013

Directed by Robert B. Weide (TV's Curb Your Enthusiasm and How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)), this is a documentary he worked on for nearly 4 years. Woody Allen is a very shy person who keeps to himself, and Wild Man Blues (1997) aside, he's never let anyone see into his private life, until Weide came along.

Woody's life and his working process on how he does his films is incredible. It follows Woody Allen from 2009, when he was filming You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger (2010) in London, right up until the release of Midnight in Paris (2011), which was a surprise hit and proved to be his biggest grossing film.

Woody tells us about his childhood, growing up in Brooklyn, and how he got into writing and through TV, became a film director, eventually winning Oscars and making a film a year since the mid 1970's.

He gives us an insight into his working life, the scraps of papers he keeps his ideas on, the typewriter he's had since the 1950's which he's written all his scripts on and how he casts his films.

It's a fascinating insight into how Woody works, it does skim over his tabloid scandal in the 1990's a bit, but everyone interviewed stands up for him. It makes you appreciate what a fine talent he is, and how he's still able to make films now and attract big name actors.