Match Point

[planet_jake]

I was lucky enough to see Match Point in October. There was a free preview screening and all these studio bozo's were there prodding us with questions about how to market it. All I know is that it IS one of Woody Allen's best films. Certainly his most bold aesthetically in about 30 years. There is one dinner scene that is composed of about 10-15 shots all of which are extreme close ups of the actors faces.  There is also one of the most beautiful scenes I have seen this year shot entirely in the rain... I don't want to give away too much, and I'm not being terrible articulate. But I did love this film.

[©brad]

how come no one is seeing this? 

[matt35mm]

... it's not out in the U.S. yet...

[Pubrick]

.. or in the AUS

[cine]

.. or in the CAN

[©brad]

oooooh.

my bad.

[MacGuffin]

Scarlett Johansson goes through every emotion in the new Woody Allen film, Match Point. After she breaks up with her British fiancé, she begins an affair with his brother in law played by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Rhys-Meyers soon realizes that he doesn’t want to end his marriage and realizes this can only end one way

Johansson is the definition of smoky femme fatale at the young age of 21. Her unique looks combined her subtle command of acting has made her a favorite of directors and audiences.

Daniel Robert Epstein: Even though it is an honor to work with Woody Allen, did a twinge ever go off in your head about Match Point not being a comedy?

Scarlett Johansson: No, I didn't think about that actually. I was so thrilled to be saying his dialogue that it never occurred to me. I love his comedies but I love his dramas too. So I was just so excited to be a part of it. I couldn't believe that it happened so suddenly. I've been a huge fan of Woody's before I was even allowed to watch his movies. I always imagined and dreamed that being in a Woody Allen film would happen to me.

DRE: How was your first meeting with Woody?

Scarlett: I actually didn't have any time to meet him because he was already in London and I was cast a week before shooting. I just went there and my first meeting was at an actual wardrobe test. I harassed him and we've been friends ever since.

DRE: It is common for Woody to fire people, was that a fear?

Scarlett: I'm always afraid of being fired so that's nothing new. I'm always afraid that they're going to find me out or something. Until you're actually done and it’s in the can you never know what's going to happen.

DRE: You’re also in his next film, Scoop, have you become his muse?

Scarlett: Our relationship inspired him to make Scoop but I think the word muse is overused. We have a very similar sense of humor and when we were making Match Point I said, “I'd love to act with you in something” and he agreed. We'd make fun of each other constantly so I think he felt that it was necessary for our own selfish desire to capture it on film. I would love to work with Woody again but I don't think I've inspired a whole new wave of Woody Allen films.

DRE: The press notes said that Woody allowed the UK actors to change his dialogue to how British people would talk. Did he do that with you as well?

Scarlett: Yeah but I never really improvise that much because I'm not really that good at it. With Woody's dialogue there wasn't that much to improvise. So if anything I probably took a lot of out. We had all these emotionally elevated scenes where there's a lot of dialogue that will pour out of your mouth but it won’t mean anything if there is too much of it.

DRE: One of the themes of the film that is you can't always have lust in a marriage which is why Jonathan's married character is attracted to you. Do you agree with that?

Scarlett: I think that love is something that is very selfless. You're thinking about the other person and you're trying to understand their emotion. Lust is very selfish. It's something that's very passionate and you're just thinking about what your fiery loins are calling out to you. Love is something that you work on over time and the more you get to know someone you love them more or not. Lust is immediate. It's something that you feel upon first meeting.

DRE: Woody trusts his actors a lot but were you ever afraid of going too far with this character?

Scarlett: You're always wondering whether you're going too far one way or the other and you trust that the director will say something. It's difficult when you don't have video playback which I never used to watch and then I realized that it can help sometimes especially if you can't really understand what the director is trying to communicate with you. But you know when it feels right so if it feels right then I trust that it's good. It's not always good, but I trust it anyway. Sometimes the director will say, “A little bit more seductive” or whatever and then you do it more seductively and then they go, “Whoa, whoa, that was too much.” So you trust that the director is going to direct you.

DRE: Do you think she was too needy?

Scarlett: Her affair wasn't what ruined her engagement. She's very desperate, she needs to be in some sort of comfortable position and she doesn't want to go back home. That's not an option, so she's looking for the next best thing. I don't think that she's very needy. She's trying to get control of her out of control life and sometimes people adjust to things that are thrown at them better off than others. She's just trying to grab onto what she can so that she doesn't have to admit that her life isn't the way that she wanted it to be.

DRE: What do you look for in a director?

Scarlett: I don't look for anything in a director. I've worked with directors that I thought we're going to be more compassionate than they were or not as compassionate as they ended up being. I've learned that their reputations are mostly not the case with them particularly concerning Woody. Everyone always said that he's cold and he's very self absorbed. It's not true. He's the most available person. He's always on set. He's very sociable but also shy.

DRE: Congratulations on your Golden Globe nomination.

Scarlett: It was very surprising. To have Woody Allen at 70 years old pull through to the Best Picture category was thrilling so I'm very excited about that. It's very exciting. The Hollywood Foreign Press has always been very supportive of my career and it's nice to be nominated by a group of people who really watch and analyze the movies. I think it's nice that people who respect film would be so complimentary of my career but now I have to think of what to wear. It's always a fun event to go to. Something always ridiculous seems to happen in the middle of the Golden Globes.

DRE: After films like Ghost World and Lost in Translation you’ve definitely picked up a certain kind of young fan, have you met any of them?

Scarlett: Yeah, absolutely. Being a New Yorker I run into a lot of those people. Since I live a sort of an alternative lifestyle and I am into alternative, progressive music and progressive films so I know a lot of those kids. It's always exciting to meet new kids who are sort of different. It's nice to have cool fans.

DRE: What are you working on next?

Scarlett: I play a magician's assistant in The Prestige which is a Chris Nolan project. Then The Nanny Diaries and a film called Borgia directed by Neil Jordan.

[w/o horse]

Spoilers.  As the post began with 'The ending' I figured I should add spoiler.


The ending was like "Look it all ties together fine, big gulps huh, see you later."  The point (erm, not a pun) was already home though so it was wise.  No need to tack on another ten minutes to make it 'realistic' or whatever nonsense you know.  I thought the development of plot and character were fucking dead-on in every way.  It felt cinematic and realistic at the same time, there were moments ('I have no one to talk to about this because it's all so secretive.'  Next:  friend at work knows about it) where it felt like Woody was playing the fiddle and then you realized we were the fiddles.

He said in some article that Mac probably posted that might be in this very thread that Purple Rose, Husbands and Wives, and this were the only films of his that anybody could look at objectively and call good.  I wouldn't add this one to his best of list personally, though I certainly would call it good.

B.

[modage]

i believe in EW he said he thinks it is his best film.

[©brad]

went to see bareback mtn and it was sold out so we caught this again. the audience cheered at the end.

go see it.

[Pozer]

That's cool.  Mine was silent.

Some Spoilas in here:
I didn't love this film.  Liked different things about it - the premise, Jonathon Rhys-Meyers, how the end fooled me.  And disliked some of the dialog, some of Johansson's acting, weak plot points (she leaves then comes back, why? she hates it there), the ghosts of Scarlett's character and of the next door neighbor scene (even though this is Allen esque, I didn't feel it worked in this unAllen esque film).   

How does modage put it... okay to kinda good.

[Redlum]

I was loving this film until James Nesbit (the policeman with a the dream) showed up in the last 20 minutes. Absolutely terrible. Apart from that it was great to see London as a substitute for New York.

[Recce]

Saw it in a packed, sold out theatre. I'm a big fan of watching movies during the day with fewer people around, but I had forgotten how great it is to react to something with 400 other people. That's when you see what a great filmmaker he is...and I was never a big Woody Allen fan. I was into it from start to finish, which is rare for me, cause I have the attention span of a turnip (damn sesame street). I was a touch put off in the first five minutes by the style of pacing. It felt like it was going to be one of those "long shots staring out into nothingness" type movies, but once all the characters were introduced, I really wanted to know what would happen.

Kind of a spoiler, but not really now that I think about it:

I really liked all the scenes with the family where everyone is talking over each other, yet you always know who to pay attention to. Great sound editing, I found.

The only semi-annoying thing I found, and I'm being pretty picky, was the non-diagetic opera music with the scratch and hiss of a record. Every time it came up, I would sort of fall out of the story and pay attention to it.

[bonanzataz]

fuck this movie. this movie was BULLLLLSHIIIIIT!

oh, how fucking sudden and unexpected that whole ending was. wow, really, totally caught me off guard. (SPOILER - and having the ghosts of the two women to come back and haunt jonathan rhys meyers, oh my gosh, my skin really fucking crawled). blow me. your audience deserves better, woody. quit while you're behind.

ALL I'M SAYING IS, I AIN'T GOING TO SEE ANY MORE MELINDA AND MELINDA'S AND HOLLYWOOD ENDING'S ANYMORE! I'M DONE BEING TRICKED BY YOU AND ALL YOUR FUCKING CRITICS WHO EVERY TIME SAY "IT'S A RETURN TO FORM FOR WOODY ALLEN!" IT'S NOT AND IT NEVER WILL BE!


brian cox. never stop being in movies.

jonathan rhys meyers. go fuck boys and stop getting chicks in the movies. who're you trying to fool? (i don't know about anybody else, but i thought the twist would be that jrm was gonna jump emily mortimer's brother's bones. "hey, you wanna chill out and watch some opera with me?" "sounds really gay. i'm in!" chi chi larue style, bitchez!)

scarlett johansson. shut up and look pretty.

emily mortimer. you're adorable. but trim your pubic hair.


and, for chrissakes, if you're gonna make such awful shit, over two hours is kinda pushin' it.

[ono]

Spoilers.

I think I love you, taz.  First your defense of Fight Club, and now this.

Yeah, I thought Match Point sucked.  I saw it and was with it for a while, but it all went down the tubes once Rhys-Meyers' character flipped.  The whole contrived "lucky versus good" thing didn't help matters.  Could write so much more on why, and I was gonna write a more solid criticism of the film, but it wasn't worth the time at the time.  Later maybe.  As smart as Xixax is, I can't see too many people falling for this one ... although, they have fallen for worse movies.  This was my highest hope for film of the year, and it's a shame that's it's fallen so short.

Johansson was beautiful but wasted, and hers was the only truly real performance in the film.  Proof that she can act is here in spades.  See, you think she's the one flipping out, but to me, her emotions are the only real ones.  Rhys-Meyers was such a coward, and I think that's what angered me about him.  It's okay to have an unsympathetic protagonist, but I require that he's less of a douchebag.  I did enjoy Brian Cox in his minimal role.  That, and Scarlett playing ping-pong, smoking, and cavorting in that grain field (so steamy) were the only redeeming things about this flick.  And even that was unsatisfying because she should've been given more.