I popped a Woody!

The husband & I settled in on Friday night to choose a movie from “On Demand” on the evil Comcast. I was surprised by how many choices that we both actually wanted to see. We opted for Vicki Cristina Barcelona because I am a huge Woody Allen fan.
(I just used huge & woody in sentence!). I had wanted to see it when it was first out. The husband tends to really like Woody Allen movies with no Woody Allen (he tires of Mr. Allen’s mannerism, cadence & tics). I know that the husband counts The Purple Rose of Cairo, Radio Days, & Bullets Over Broadway among his all time top favorites movies. While I do concur, I would have to add that Annie Hall is in my top 5 All Time Favorite Films.
Sometimes you see a film that just strikes like a lightning bolt as you recognize yourself & your life up on that screen. Annie Hall was like that for me. I was living in NYC when it was filmed & released. I actually saw it at Carnegie Hall Cinema. I was a WASP from the West Coast in a relationship with an intellectual, whip smart, neurotic Jewish New Yorker who was in therapy. We met “cute”, got together, fell in love, & then proceeded to let our quirks & our fundamental differences unravel our love affair until- “what we have here is a dead shark”. His name was Steven Rosenblatt. Steven was a true New Yorker with no real desire to ever leave the 5 boroughs. One day we walked from The Cloisters to The Battery. We talked the whole way about life & art & love & sex & movies & music & philosphy. He also gave me a famous writers tour of New York including Truman Capote’s house in Brooklyn Heights & a stop at the White Horse Tavern. I hope he reads this somehow.
Is it crazy that still I identify with Diane Keaton (minus Warren Beatty & an Oscar)?
Vicki Cristina Barcelona gave me that same lightning bolt. I think it is a very fine film (one of his best). It features a bevy of fine performances including yummy Javier Bardem & I feel that Penelope Cruz really deserved that Oscar. It is a witty and ambiguous movie that's simultaneously intoxicating & filled with sadness & doubt. It carries an air of melancholy & a sense of loss. I know Woody Allen admires the films of Bergman (Interiors) & I felt the film had a nod to Smiles Of The Summer Night.
Here was another Woody Allen movie that spoke to me personally & mirrored my own life in so many ways that I actually felt quite uncomfortable for a moment while watching it. The themes of what makes a marriage, trying to have a 3 way love affair, loving art & artists, crazy EXs that are still in your life, & most resonate for me- how can I be an artist when faced with friends & lovers who are major talents (when I feel like a dilettante)?