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Reviews
Stardust Memories (1980)
WA's befitting homage to himself
If you've watched Stardust Memories you would perhaps,finally, be able to guess what adulation or the abysmal lack of it does to a film-maker. Allen backs his forte - comedy,of course - and drives home,a most important point(WA himself would never admit to driving home a point or striving to do so,of course!)in terms of how to 'react' to art. Savour it if you like it,shut up if you don't! The film thrashes the whole business of criticism,reviews and enlightened opinions. Stylistically,he marries the European(read Fellinian)to the Allenian,beautifully. And with Glenn Miller's Moonlight Serenade playing in the outdoor fantasy sequence,the deja vu you get,is confirmed. For Allen afficionados like myself,attempting a review of this number is sacrilege in itself because for once would have expected us to shut up and watch.
Pauline à la plage (1983)
The quintessential product of the Nouvelle Vague
Rohmer's version of the intricacies of love,life and adulthood,in general,makes for a great introduction to the French New Wave in one's late teens,probably. People and specific faces have always been Rohmer's staple issues and yet every time he does it with such a great deal of novelty. A love story 'between' 4,strike that,5 people(the candy girl is no less a part of the ensemble than Pauline herself) is not easy to conceive and much less, execute on camera. The excess in dialogue is perhaps the most un-Rohmeresque aspect of this number. A couple of performances perhaps were a bit out of tune with the rest of the cast's inputs. Sylvain,perhaps could have been better played by La Brosse. But the film,to my mind,is certainly not the best to have emerged from the Eric Rohmer factory.