Two years late Woody Allen’s newest film, Rifkin’s Festival has finally arrived in U.S. cinemas. It has long since appeared in Europe and Hong Kong.
I was utterly enchanted by it; for me it's his best film since Blue Jasmine and his best comedy since Midnight in Paris. It recalls some of the great auteur’s early work with a main character, Mort Rifkin (Wallace Shawn) struggling with love (his marriage is, in his own words, fraying) and eternal questions about the meaning of existence. Mort is a cinephile who in fact has taught classes on cinema. Rifkin’s Festival is rife with nods to great films of yore: The Seventh Seal, Citizen Kane, Breathless, Jules et Jim, Persona, The Exterminating Angel, 8 1/2 and Wild Strawberries.
Our hero is in the gorgeous city of San Sebastian on the northwest coast of Spain (I wanna go there I wanna go there I wanna go there….) for a film festival. His wife (Gina Gershon) is a publicist for several actors and directors there, most notably a renewed French director, Philippe (Louis Garrel) with whom she is clearly smitten.
While his wife and Philippe are off being cozy with one another, Mort explores the city. After experiencing chest pains, he is referred to a Doctor Rojas (Elena Anaya) who turns out to be a lovely woman. She is in a difficult marriage of her own. Mort falls for the doctor and makes excuses to see her again. They become fast friends.
The plot takes no surprising turns but the manner in which it resolves itself is endlessly entertaining, including Mort’s dreams and visions in which he or those around him are depicted in scenes reminiscent of some of the great films already here mentioned.
Rifkin’s Festival had the wonderful effect of making me want to re-visit many films, it also stimulated me to want to further pursue my art. That I also had cause to continue pondering life’s great question was yet another bonus. Woody Allen has long been the master of making us laugh and think at the same time. That he is in well-worn territory here is no drawback. It is like visiting an old friend and hearing a different version of a familiar much-loved story.
Woody's work, like that of many, has been stalled by the pandemic but not stopped in its tracks. He has another book coming out soon, this one a collection of New Yorker essays and he has completed writing a play. He hopes to start filming his next picture in France this Summer or Fall, pandemic permitting.
There was a lovely article about Woody from Wallace Shawn that appeared on The Wrap in November that I only recently became aware of. Also, Woody was film critic Leonard Maltin’s guest on his most recent podcast. I recommend both the article and the podcast.
Speaking of Woody, last weekend I once again watched Radio Days (1987) which I rank among his best works. What a beautiful love letter to that bygone age when Radio was king. There are so many wonderful moments in the film that it’s impossible to believe that it’s running time is under ninety minutes. It’s like a collection of wonderful short stories.
By the way, both of Woody’s daughters worked on the production of Rifkin’s Festival. Bechet is an artist whose interests do not, apparently, lie in films, but Woody reports that Manzie wants to get involved in film production, perhaps as an assistant director.
Woody’s autobiography, Apropos of Nothing is now in paperback. It ranks among the best celebrity bios I’ve ever read and certainly the funniest.
At eighty-six the living legend shows no signs of slowing down. How lucky for his legions of fans.
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