Don’t Drink The Water is sometimes left off some lists of Woody Allen films because of one reason – it was made for TV. And in many ways it looks like it, with a clearly reduced budget. It’s also not a new script – it’s a Woody Allen play from 1966 newly adapted for the […]

Coming off two period comedies, Mighty Aphrodite brings Allen back to contemporary New York for more fun. This time it’s Pygmalion set in the Woody Allen world. It’s a fun, light hearted comedy that doesn’t have much to say. But it’s anchored by plenty of jokes and one amazing, award winning performance. Woody Allen stars […]

Woody Allen said in Manhattan (1979) that art is what living is for. But is it worth killing for? That’s the big question at the heart of this delightful film. Full of humour and crazy characters, but also deeply resonate and with big ideas. It has a style and substance that is part of all his […]

This is one of Allen’s best films, it shows him at his most energetic, creative and vital, even though the subject matter is extremely bleak. The film, the examination of modern marriage, was released at the same time his relationship with Farrow ended, and it’s tough to separate that. Regardless of the drama surrounding the […]

This is one of the strangest films in Woody Allen’s canon. It’s a 90 minute, black and white allegorical play about death and religion. Lucky for Woody Allen that by this point, it had been decades since he had to pitch a film to anyone.Allen stars as Kleinman, returning to being the sole lead for […]

This is a lovely film, and highly under-rated. It has all the hallmarks of a great Woody Allen film – heart, fun, movie-magic – and a great cast anchored by Mia Farrow‘s best performance. It really deserves to be more acclaimed.Farrow stars as the titular Alice Tate. An upper class New York kept woman, she finds […]

This is the best Woody Allen drama. It is one of his meat-iest works, and having played around with drama and morality before. But here Allen goes for it, and pulls off a masterful – and very disturbing – work.Woody Allen stars as Cliff Stern, and Martin Landau stars as Judah Rosenthal. Both men play […]

This is another serious drama, only his third drama by this point.Gena Rowland stars as Marion Post. A professor on a writing sabbatical, she rents an apartment next to a therapist. An air vent allows her to overhear the patients, and one woman’s story (Mia Farrow) really touches her, and she starts to notice the […]

This film marks the beginning of a series of serious dramas, many of them troublesome, that Allen directed. It is one of Allen’s most humble films – with one setting and a handful of characters, it is a play on film. It’s so humble that Allen actually shot the whole thing with two different casts.It is […]

This film holds a special place in Woody Allen’s filmography. It is Woody Allen’s own favourite of his films, whilst he consistently rags on just about every other one. Even now, he claims it is the film that is closest to his original vision. From it, we can see what it is that Allen the […]

A love letter to his comic roots, Broadway Danny Rose marks the time when Allen managed to synthesise his European influence and his American humour into something all his own.  It’s a small story – and a short one – but Allen’s story is full of heart and he creates two of his best characters in […]

Zelig is not one of Allen’s most recognised films, and perhaps it’s the strange title. It’s certainly a far cry from his witty, neurotic, New York comedies. But it is touching, funny, clever and a spectacular special effects ride. For others this is a career defining film.Woody Allen stars as Leonard Zelig – the human chameleon. […]