SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

GazerRise Fantastic!

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Red-Barracuda Immediately after he made his big breakthrough with the Oscar winning Annie Hall (1977), Woody Allen decided to make a film that was anything but a follow-up in the same vein. Instead he made Interiors, which was not only the first of his films that he didn't star in but it was also his first attempt at a drama. It wasn't just a drama though, it was a bleak, serious film with almost no humour to be found anywhere. Needless to say, it was a very divisive film on release but one which has achieved respect with the benefit of hindsight. It is essentially about a dysfunctional family. There are three grown daughters who have a wealthy father and emotionally disturbed mother. The father leaves his mentally unstable wife and it is the fall-out of this decision in which the film takes place. The separation is a catalyst for all manner of insecurities and jealousies rising to the surface.This is a pretty intimate family drama. There are only eight characters in the entire film, aside from the inner family there are two partners of the older daughters and an older woman called Pearl who the father wishes to marry. This is a family of intellectuals, who seem to be very self-absorbed and egotistical. It's only when the unpretentious Pearl comes into their orbit that we in the audience have a true identification figure. Even her clothing marks her out as different, wearing a red dress she contrasts with all the other characters in their drab coloured clothing. She is the only person with real life to her in this gathering and they don't like her for it, dismissing her as a 'vulgarian'. She is a good character and this movie as a whole showcases Allen's ability to write well-rounded female roles. The women drive the piece and all seem realistic, which is part due to the great acting from the entire cast. Admittedly there is some over-written dialogue in here, with some awkward lines that don't ring true but on the whole the writing is mostly good. Stylistically, it's very austere with no musical score to alleviate matters, while the pale colour scheme also emphasises the tone also. Much of the drama takes place in a house by a beach front so we have the roaring ocean waves crashing repeatedly on the shore under a heavy grey sky to add further ominous atmosphere to the dark psychological interactions. On the whole, this is a film that maybe takes a couple of viewings to appreciate and you definitely have to be in the right mood for it. But it's a bold and depressing film from Allen but one with many good things about it.

gavin6942 Three sisters find their lives spinning out of control in the wake of their parents' sudden, unexpected divorce.What do we have here? A Woody Allen film with no comedy, and no Woody. We have Joel Schumacher as the costume designer (before his years as director) and something that amounts to a Bergmanesque family drama, though without the full Scandinavian despair.Vincent Canby wrote, "My problem with Interiors is that although I admire the performances and isolated moments, as well as the techniques and the sheer, headlong courage of this great, comic, film-making philosopher, I haven't any real idea what the film is up to." The criticism aside, Canby calls Allen out for being heavy on the philosophy references, with the dense writing of Allen that he is known for and makes his films his own. Is this Bergman? No. Is it Allen trying to be Bergman? Maybe. But it has Allen all over it, in the dialogue, and that has some value in and of itself.

Hitchcoc Filled with angst and written seriously, I had to put aside my anticipation that at some point a Woody Allen moment would move in. This is an homage to Bergman. The characters are serious in their presences. They are consumed by guilt as they watch their parents move on with their lives. When we see Geraldine Page, suffering, we know why things are as they are. The girls have tried to make their lives go and have run into the depth of despair. At times it seems so maudlin and I can muster no sympathy for their pathetic beings. Throw in the flamboyant Jean Stapleton who adds color to this dirge and by contrast everyone is lost. E. G. Marshall is to be complimented for getting out of this black hole. Still, there is some growth. This sort of set the stage for future "serious" movies, but it is drained of charm, as Allen would use these themes later in better movies. I personally believe had this not been made by Wood Allen, it would have been treated with much less respect by the critics as pretty ordinary and overly artsy.

TheLittleSongbird Interiors is one of the most divisive films of one of the most love-it-hate-it directors. For me Interiors is not one of Allen's best films(Annie Hall, Crimes and Misdemeanours, Manhatten, Hannah and Her Sisters, Husbands and Wives) with some dialogue monologues that ramble on a bit too much, but when it comes to his most underrated films Interiors is very high on the list. It is very easy to see why people wouldn't like it with how bleak it is and how it's different from much of what Allen has done, but those are hardly reasons to dismiss Interiors because apart from the occasional rambling it is a great film. It is very stylishly shot with good use of locations, probably Allen's second most visually striking 70s film after Manhattan. Like Annie Hall, there's no music score and that's not a bad thing at all, Interiors is a very intimate and intricate film and having no music added to that quality. Much of the dialogue is full of insight and pathos, to me it did have dramatic weight and it is one of Allen's most honest films along with Husbands and Wives. The screenplay is not "funny" as such and is not as quotable as Annie Hall, but it wasn't ever meant to be. The story is paced deliberately but how Interiors was written and performed ensures that it isn't dull, it was very moving(personally it didn't topple into melodrama) and layered storytelling- didn't notice any convolutions- deftly handled. Allen directs assuredly in one of his more restrained directing jobs. The characters are neurotic and not the most likable, but are written and performed with such compelling realism that in the end there is some sympathy felt for them. The cast was a talented one in the first place, and none of them disappoint. Especially good are Geraldine Page, in one of her best performances, in very frightening and heart-breakingly tormented form and Mary Beth Hurt, the centrepiece of the story and is very affecting. Maureen Stapleton is a breath of fresh air as the most lively character- an anti thesis to the rest of the characters but not an out of place one- and E.G. Marshall brings a great deal of quiet dignity. Diane Keaton when it comes to Woody Allen films is better in Annie Hall and Manhattan but plays a purposefully shrill character with gusto. Richard Jordan and Sam Waterson are fine. Kristin Griffith is good too but her part seemed underwritten. All in all, won't be for everybody but a great film from personal perspective and one of Woody Allen's most underrated. 9/10 Bethany Cox