Synopsis
Woody Allen in his most amusing and witty effort!
While attending a retrospect of his work, a filmmaker recalls his life and his loves: the inspirations for his films.
1980 Directed by Woody Allen
While attending a retrospect of his work, a filmmaker recalls his life and his loves: the inspirations for his films.
Woody Allen Charlotte Rampling Jessica Harper Marie-Christine Barrault Tony Roberts Daniel Stern Amy Wright Helen Hanft John Rothman Eli Mintz Gabriel Barre Judith Roberts Barry Weiss Renée Lippin Irving Metzman Irwin Keyes John Doumanian Sharon Stone Noel Behn Anne DeSalvo Joan Neuman Ken Chapin Leonardo Cimino Bob Maroff Gabrielle Strasun David Lipman Robert Munk J.E. Beaucaire Andy Albeck Show All…
星塵往事, Memórias, Recuerdos, 스타더스트 메모리스, 星塵回憶錄, 스타더스트 메모리즈, Recuerdos de una estrella, Recordações, 星尘往事, אבק כוכבים, Vzpomínky na hvězdný prach, Звездные воспоминания, Csillagporos emlékek, Wspomnienia z gwiezdnego pyłu, Спомени от прахта, Memorias de un seductor, Prisiminimai apie žvaigždžių dulkes, خاطرات اکلیلی, ვარსკვლავური მოგონებები, Спогади про зоряний пил, Records
"You think I'm flirting with your kid cousin? That's absurd!" -Woody Allen's character
No, it's the irony that's absurd
“Stardust Memories” is an earnest homage to Fellini in the form of an ode, read aloud by a poet who can’t stop his voice from shaking.
Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” (1977) opens with a flashback to the director’s character as a child — forced to see a doctor, because he’s anxious over the unending expansion of the universe. “Stardust Memories” (1980) begins with Allen - now an adult film director (non-autobiographical) - fretting about the end of the world, and resulting erasure of all art and people within it.
What a difference three years can make.
Allen had transitioned fully out of his slapstick era and into his period of European auteurism. “Stardust” is his most direct channeling - or,…
Woody’s 8¼
”…and for one brief moment everything seemed to come together perfectly and I felt happy…”
The older I get the more I like this film, and that opening train sequence serves as the perfect commentary for my entire life.
”It’s like we’re all characters in some film being watched in God’s private screening room”
With the re-emergence of the Dylan Farrow allegations, I've been thinking a lot about Woody Allen lately. Too much, really. My friends and loved ones are tired of hearing me prattle on about him. It's an immensely difficult subject for a lifelong Allen fan like myself, and yet whenever it resurfaces, I strangely find myself drawn into a Woody rabbit hole. So I revisited Stardust Memories, a strange dispatch from an alternate universe where Woody Allen's biggest problem is that he has too many fans.
Observations:
1) Gordon Willis is the GOAT
2) This feels close to Allen's original conception of Annie Hall (which was famously supposed to be a free-flowing exploration of his own neurotic mind, but became a…
Woody Allen's films generally have a narcissistic quality to them. In Stardust Memories he plays a great filmmaker wanting to break away from his much loved comedies into more serious material. He attends a festival celebrating his work where he is swamped by fans telling him how great he is and asking for autographs. He also has a number of relationships on the go with beautiful women. What a guy! To be fair, all this is done with a clear nod and a wink and there is a streak of Allen's trademark neurotic humour running throughout. The narrative is made up of present events, flashbacks, scenes from the central character's films and various absurd situations. It all hangs together rather…
Boldly surreal meta satire from Woody Allen, who stars as a celebrated comedy director in the midst of a personal and professional crisis. Frustrated by his inability to produce more serious films and meaningfully connect with the world around him, he finds himself reassessing his life during a weekend festival celebrating his work. The key themes - love, God, mortality, existentialism - may be familiar but never has Allen been as daring in his approach, fracturing the chronology of the narrative, intercutting moments of abstract beauty and bizarre fantasy, and wilfully sending up both his own public persona as well as his fans in a fearlessly self-reflexive treatise on the creation and consumption of art. Though obviously heavily influenced by…
"How could you do that?" - Sandy Bates,
-Woody Allen Ranked: boxd.it/cIhOE
Tedious.
This felt like a real chore to watch. The story meanders, constantly feeling like it is about to go somewhere and then going nowhere. That wouldn't bother me as much if the dialogue was more interesting but I find this to be one of Allen's most boring scripts, feeling more whiny than even his whiniest projects.
It's an autobiography of someone I dislike.
Famous Stars give off some Dust,
And question if they're in love or lust.
When it's deduced,
They're "bigger than Zeus",
Then some humble pie is a must.
Pretty great self mirroring feature à la Fellini with Allen's usual neurosis and wit, but with an extra spice of angst and bitterness.
It comes off a bit too self pitiful or congratulatory at times, but the surreal flashes, sour satire, and confined, demanding, and sometimes hostile space that surrounds Allen's character, greatly depicts a complex and challenging personal project for the New Yorker and makes for an overall enjoyable experience.
Beautifully shot but narratively scattered, Woody Allen's "Stardust Memories" is a comic drama that finds the writer/director/star observing, of course, the life of a writer/director/star. The film is captured in rich black and white and leaps, without transition, from moments in both the protagonist's work and life. It is an interesting case of life inspiring art and vice versa, forming a sometimes jarring pastiche of authentic life and created art.
In terms of story, "Stardust Memories" follows its lead character as he is lauded at a retrospective of his work. There, he recalls past and present relationships while reliving his canon. The film moves seamlessly from his work to his life without stopping to declare which is which. It is…