Melinda & Melinda & Match Point (2005): B+ & A

“Melinda and Melinda”- B+
Well, it’s about time. After a decade of underwhelming movies (though I’ve yet to see “Sweet and Lowdown” and “Small Time Crooks”), writer-director Woody Allen has returned- in a way- to the confident, intelligent type of comic-dramatic filmmaking he made his name for in the ‘70s and ‘80s before slipping into tragic repetition and annoying neuroticism that has hampered much of his work since his last real triumph- 1994’s “Bullets Over Broadway.” His work got old. His newest film, though, feels new, and feels alive. It also feels personal- something his work since “Broadway” has lacked. “Melinda and Melinda” spins its’ story on a dime…and a question. Is life comic or tragic? This is a quandry two playwrights (Wallace Shawn and Larry Pine) is contemplating over dinner in a New York restaurant at the start of the movie. To argue their differing perspectives, the playwrights devise an idea- take the simple setup of a woman named Melinda crashing a dinner party hosted to one couple, but take it in the direction of the comic (Shawn’s story) or tragic (Pine’s). In both stories, Melinda is played by Radha Mitchell, who was the social climbing wife of J.M. Barrie in last year’s “Finding Neverland” and Colin Ferrell’s wife in “Phone Booth.” This is one of best recent performances in a Woody Allen movie- maybe one of the best in any Allen film- and one of the year’s early gems that should be remembered at Oscar time. In Shawn’s story, where she’s the downstairs neighbor of Hobie, an out-of-work actor (slyly underplayed by Will Ferrell, filling the “Woody Allen” role so to speak), and Susan, an indie director whose next film is called “The Castration Sonata” (Amanda Peet is sexy and winning in an all-too-brief and underwritten role), Mitchell’s Melinda is warm, insecure to be sure, but confident in her own way and open to the friendship Hobie- who gradually grows to love Melinda- and Susan forge with her. In Pine’s story, she’s an old college friend of Laurel, a wealthy young married woman (played with depth and affection by Chloe Sevigny), and her cheating actor husband Lee (Jonny Lee Miller), who got in touch to try and find a place to stay months ago, but is just now getting in town as she deals with a messy divorce with her doctor husband and an even messier custody battle over their two children. Things seem to be going better for Melinda when she hooks up with sympathetic pianist-composer Ellis (charismatically played by “Dirty Pretty Things’” Chiwetel Ejiofar, a far cry from the potential viciousness of his upcoming role in “Serenity”), but tragedy always finds a way of seeping in. It’s in Pine’s story where Mitchell really shines, showing the desparate and suicidal tendencies of Melinda with a clarity that stands in sharp contrast in terms of mood to her most joyous turn in the Shawn story, and a poignancy that lifts her seemingly terminal negative worldview above maudelin moping. Woody cuts between the two stories effortlessly- it’s not as forced as some would have you believe- and devises some inspired scenes, like the scene where Melinda first talks to Ellis, the scene where Hobie catches Susan in bed with one of her producers, and the scene where Hobie goes out- after his marriage has ended- with a right-wing conservative with a radical outlook on sex (the sexy and funny Vinessa Shaw, who played the hooker Tom Cruise almost hooks up with in “Eyes Wide Shut”). The film sometimes slips into modern Woody tedium, but the overall impact of the film- and the performance it hinges on- is felt clearly. You leave “Melinda and Melinda” with some of your respect for Woody Allen rejuvinated, even if you still feel the sting of embarrasements like “Hollywood Ending,” “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion,” “Celebrity,” and “Everyone Says I Love You.” Welcome back Woody. Hope to see you again soon.

“Match Point”- A
And the award for comeback filmmaker of the year goes to…Woody Allen. No sooner was I- and many- prepared to write off the aging filmmaker as a washed-up has-been whose best days had been long behind him than the Woodman- known recently for the crass, self-aware neurosis of his high-concept comedies (is anyone really calling “Hollywood Ending” or “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion” among his best?)- delivers two movies that reminded us why we liked him in the first place. The first was “Melinda & Melinda,” a storytelling experiment- which told two parallel stories about the same woman (played by Radha Mitchell, who’s been my choice for Best Actress- but seemingly no one elses- for the better part of the year) from different sensibilities (one comic, the other tragic)- that featured Allen’s sharpest writing in years, even when the chore of going between two stories made for a choppy film.

Now comes “Match Point,” which rates as one of the year’s best thrillers as it tells the story of Chris, a former tennis player- turned tennis pro- who becomes friends with Tom, one of his pupils at the country club he works at, and becomes a privileged guest in Tom’s wealthy family when he begins to sleep with Tom’s sister Chloe. At the time, Tom has a fiancee, an American actress struggling to making it in London named Nola. Chris and Nola have a brief fling in a rainy field, but lose touch when Chris and Chloe marry and Tom calls things off between the two. Nola disappears for a spell, and returns again, further inflaming Chris’ lustful urges at a time when he and Chloe are having problems conceiving a child.

That’s all the plot you’ll get out of me, partly because few thrillers have been so unpredictably pleasurable, partyly because I don’t want to risk giving anything else up that would ruin the experience for you. Woody’s got some great wild cards up his sleeve that explore the ways a person can be corrupted by greed and lust, and how things become further complicated when both don’t come from the same place. You won’t laugh to much in this film (no surprise for people who’ve watched Allen’s recent films ;), though here it’s by design, not accident), but the wicked wit Allen achieves goes hand-and-hand with his sharp plotting and characterizations. More so than any other recent film, Allen’s cast of characters is rich and detailed, and played by great actors, not necessarily hot stars. As Chris, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is devastatingly charismatic with just the right glint of sinister intentions and transparent feeling towards his wife- played by Mortimer (who triumphed earlier this year in the forgotten gem “Dear Frankie”) as a lovely but over-bearing wife who long settled into the life her parents gave her- to let the audience see past his passive dialogue with the characters and see the social-climber within without delving into true villainy- disturbingly, Allen has made the most despicable character in the end one we subconciously want to succeed. As Tom, Matthew Goode is very good at playing a decent guy who knows a good thing when he’s got it; his rationale for dumping Nola and joy at finding his future wife is believable and charismatically British. As Nola, Scarlett Johansson- who’s also doing Allen’s new film- is a sexy, feisty firecracker whose bewitching charm works as well on the male audience as it while also breaking your heart in the way that Chris- who’s slyly manipulative- uses her. After what I felt was an overrated performance in “Lost in Translation” (sorry, I just didn’t think her character was as poignant as Murray’s) and one that was merely window dressing in this summer’s “The Island,” this is a terrific, tantilizing return to acting form for Johansson, who won me- and a lot of people- over with her early triumphs in “The Horse Whisperer” and “Ghost World.” After watching “Match Point,” don’t be surprised if you feel the same way about its’ writer-director. Welcome back Woody.

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