MEMBER SIGN IN
Not a member? Become one today!
         iBerkshires     Berkshire Chamber     Berkshire Community College     City of Pittsfield    
Search
'Irrational Man': Crime & Academics
By Michael S. Goldberger, iBerkshires Film Critic
04:26PM / Thursday, August 06, 2015
Print | Email  


Popcorn Column
by Michael S. Goldberger  

Sony Pictures Classics 
Mysterious professor Joaquin Phoenix and bright-eyed co-ed Emma Stone get caught up in routine crimes and misdemeanors in Woody Allen's latest outing.

Each new Woody Allen film is inevitably judged against his body of work. Although generally unfair, it's deserved in the case of "Irrational Man," a dark and brooding meditation on crime, punishment and whatever else the auteur happens to have on his mind. He's good at that ... taking a plot and, in a cinema version of doodling abstractions on a notepad, filling the scenario with all sorts of stuff concerning the human condition.

While this tale about a fabled scalawag of a college philosophy professor doesn't blow us away, it's still time spent with a pretty smart guy.

out of 4

But in a minor departure from other films that might one day be feted at a festival devoted to Allen's subpar movies, an exceptionally large portion of the emotions seems to emanate not from the script, but from the Brando-like gesticulations and grimaces of the title player. Joaquin Phoenix's Abe Lucas is that mysterious, oft-speculated subject of entertaining gossip no self-respecting university should be without. There are only questions and no answers. Detractors and boosters alike are sure he knows something very cryptic.

So it only figures that Jill, an altruistic innocent bright enough to be considering graduate school at Oxford after her days at Newport, R.I.'s posh Braylin College, is going to be infatuated with the cause célèbre. Whether it's the honest, enthusiastic curiosity Emma Stone imbues her bright-eyed co-ed with, her well-scrubbed, all-American good looks or a combination thereof, she soon finds crevices in Abe's wall of secrecy.

The two become an item, seen traversing the campus, dawdling in the town coffee shop and strolling the parks forever in animated conversation concerning Kierkegaard, Kant and whomever else real intelligent people discuss. But while Jill's interest may or may not be purely academic, the attention she's getting from the faculty superstar isn't lost on Rita, a married, disconcertingly unfulfilled professor who's been waiting for something to happen. Played by Parker Posey, she makes her intentions plain. She'd run off to Spain with him.

The protagonist's two potential love interests are hence antithetically poised in biblical fashion. Yet at least for starters, the self-admittedly jaded, world-weary philosopher remains committed to his non-involvement policy. After all, everything is absurd, life is a cruel joke to be survived as painlessly as possible, and any stab at romance would be a hypocritical pursuit at best. However, as even Allen's least worthy works are often well written, leave it to him to fashion a hook. The fates intervene.

It happens in a diner when Jill and Abe overhear the lady at the next table tell her tale of woe. A bad judge, a good old boy pal of her ex's, has granted custody of her kids to hubby. She's practically been impoverished by the costs of fighting him. Now, most people would just be saddened by the situation. But not so in the case of hyper-thinking Abe Lucas, who sees every quandary and conundrum as a matter for dissection and categorization. Suddenly Abe is awakened, invigorated and glad to be alive.

In the moral contemplation that follows, it's Woody does Aesop with help from O. Henry and Hitchcock. Out come all the theories, spun from a lazy Susan of every philosopher the filmmaker has had occasion to dog-ear. Jill and Abe's ongoing tête-à-tête shifts into a much weightier mode. Added to the consequences of the shocking actions prompted by the eavesdropped conversation, student and teacher have by now made good on some of those campus rumors.

Granted, if any of Allen's cogitations about humanity's darker side could be mentioned in the same breath as Dostoevsky, it's "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989). However, this offering, while initially intriguing, turns into a routine crime drama, except with scholarly footnotes, and alas reaffirms that Allen, like Lerner and Loewe, didn't write a hit every time.

But it's still Woody Allen, and just as a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work, even a mediocre movie from Allen is worth a look-see given the available time, mood and penchant. Therefore, if you've already made plans to see it with the Strulowitzes and will be going out for a bite après theater, rest assured there'll be plenty of gristle to chaw on, at least until the coffee-and-dessert-included arrives.

At the very least, the scrupulously etched portrayals by Emma Stone and Joaquin Phoenix, who astutely perpetuate the mystique of thespic excellence achieved by Woody's actors, are noteworthy. Only William Wyler (14) and Elia Kazan (9) have directed more Oscar-winning performances than Brooklyn's Allan Stewart Konigsberg (7).

All this considered, I'd wait until the movie is available through the secondary purveyors (i.e. - Netflix, etc.). However, if you've been wanting to finally get this Strulowitz obligation over with, only then would seeing "Irrational Man" at full price make sense.

"Irrational Man," rated R, is a Sony Pictures Classics release directed by Woody Allen and stars Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix and Parker Posey. Running time: 96 minutes

 

 

Comments
More Featured Stories
Pittsfield.com is owned and operated by: Boxcar Media 106 Main Sreet, P.O. Box 1787 North Adams, MA 01247 -- T. 413-663-3384
© 2008 Boxcar Media LLC - All rights reserved