Woody Allen: A Documentary

Director: Robert B Weide
With: Woody Allen
Time Out rating:
Japanese title: Eiga to Koi to Woody Allen

This is a cut-down of a two-part American Masters TV doc about Woody Allen, made by Robert B Weide, a producer and director of Curb Your Enthusiasm. It’s a collaborative effort with Woody (who, unusually, looks happy to be interviewed), so we see him at home (showing off a typewriter he bought for $40 at 16), writing on his bed and standing outside his childhood home in Brooklyn. The interviewees are top-notch – Diane Keaton, Martin Scorsese, Sean Penn – the clips are reminders of Woody at his best and footage from the making of You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger is a nod to how much of a hands-off director Woody is said to be. The film doesn’t dwell long on Woody’s split with Mia Farrow (although he does comment about his private life becoming public). But Weide is sensible enough to acknowledge Woody’s fitful recent offerings, although some will disagree that Match Point was a return to form. The box-office success of Midnight in Paris lets the film end on a high – even if Owen Wilson puts that down to having ‘Paris’ in the title.

Woody Allen: A Documentary opens at Toho Cinemas Chanter, Hibiya on November 10