Woody Allen: A Documentary

Running to over 3 hours I confess that this documentary sat on my watch list for the last 3 or so years, with it always putting me off due to the time commitment and the tough sell to say to a partner "how about tonight we watch a 3+ hour documentary on Woody Allen" – if nothing else you could watch two of his films in the same time pretty much. However I finally got to watch it (albeit spread over about 3-4 days of watching it when I had free time to grab 30 minutes or more here and there.

What I found was a perfectly enjoyable walk through Woody Allen's career, with the added benefit of having the man himself available for discussion and interviews, as well as a host of those he has worked with. In terms of what it sets out to do, this makes the film work very well. More of less each movie and career step is touched on, clips are well chosen, and the contributions do have interesting elements (even if the majority are of the 'he is a genius' variety). The running time is justified by this approach (he does have a very long career), and it held my attention throughout with well-chosen clips and plenty to remind us why he is so well considered. It helps that the audience for this will certainly be fans of his work – I cannot imagine many casual viewers taking this on without any pre- existing interest.

The downside of the film is what it doesn't deliver. I was a little surprised how little Woody Allen was in discussion; we did get lots of good stuff from him, and it is well used, but I had hoped for more than this. The other element was that the film decides to focus across the spread of the career, so there is no area that gets real deep focus. So, why I disagree with claims that it "whitewashes" some of his life, I can also understand why it feels that way – but it gives these elements of his personal life about the same amount of time as the rest – plus, this is not the focus of the film.

Overall, it is one for the choir, and it doesn't provide huge depth, but it is a well-paced and consistently enjoyable look across his body of work, even if some of it has flaws inherent in all these types of films.

This documentary may not go too far below the surface of Woody Allen's persona but for fans of his films it offers a lot to enjoy. It looks at his career from his earliest days as a joke writer via stand-up comedian on to his film career up until his biggest commercial success Midnight in Paris. It was interesting to see the young Allen, who looked surprisingly ungeeky it has to be said. And it was good to see the path that led to his talents ending up in cinema. But the real pleasure of this documentary is in simply revisiting so many of his films. Virtually all of his movies from the period that covers Take the Money and Run to Shadows and Fog are represented with clips. While, several other key movies after this are featured too, although perhaps though it would have been better if more of his unsuccessful films were shown as a point of comparison. But time restraints do limit things I guess – I saw the shorter theatrical cut – and it was really just fun revisiting the good ones to be honest.

For the reasons mentioned above, it would probably be fair to say that this is a documentary primarily aimed at people who are Allen fans to begin with. The wealth of well-chosen clips really is very good, while the selection of talking heads add good value. It's basically a pure celebration of Allen's work and it does well to show the sheer volume of quality he has produced over the years. Very enjoyable.

Woody Allen is one of the most prolific and important filmmakers working today. His movies mostly revolve around the grand subjects of Life, Love and Art. Even when he puts out a sub par film, he is still interesting to watch: "There's always something about them", like Martin Scorsese himself puts it.

The documentary opens with Woody Allen's trademark title names; written in the iconic Windsor font, with playful jazz music in the background accompanying images of Brooklyn shot à la Midnight in Paris. Next up are a series of interviews, alternated to scenes from Woody's films. The filmmakers managed to interview Woody's mother, his sister and manager and of course Woody himself, while also showing us opinions from actresses and actors that starred in his movies, mainly Diane Keaton (his first muse). His long time collaborators and producers also voice their opinion, mostly praise, and there's even a priest.

The documentary does a good job, in that it is about Woody as a person and as an artist. He also has most of the screen time and rightfully so. The first half of the film is Woody's origin story, from writing jokes for the news paper and doing stand-up, to him constantly being on national television, getting a writing gig, over which he had no artistic control and then finally getting a chance to write and direct his first feature film on his own terms. The second half of the documentary focuses on his hits and misfires throughout his career, while ending on the upbeat note of his 2011 box office hit.

Being a huge fan of his I couldn't help but love this documentary. It's fully of little trivia and tidbits you might not know about even if you're a loyal follower of his. I certainly learned a lot of new things about him. I didn't know much about his private life, I had only read a very confusing and mostly false expose on him (I believe it was in Time magazine), and so this was refreshing. It was great to hear the man himself discuss his work and learning that one of his favorite films (from his own catalogue) is Stardust Memories, inspired by Federico Fellini's masterpiece 8½, or how he really still uses a typewriter to write all of his scripts and many other fun little quirks. While it is interesting that they had a priest, he doesn't really get into any religious talk, which seems like a wasted opportunity, since most of Woody Allen's films ask big questions like "Is there a God?" and "Is there an afterlife?". The documentary is also very standard in its execution, which is not a fault per se, but it would be great to see a new vision for a change, especially in the visual department. All in all though the film succeeds in that it makes you want to re-visit Woody Allen's classics like Annie Hall, Manhattan and Husbands and Wives.

I would recommend this documentary especially if you're a Woody Allen fan, if you're not there's still the great story of a self-made man being told. At the end of the day it's about his life and his art. In his own words: "Issues of what life is about and why we're here and why it's so painful and relationships between the human being and his experience and human loneliness, that never gets resolved, and so it's of constant interest to me".

It is one of the few documentaries that I watch for the second time. I did that because a) Woody is really funny and I cannot get enough b) He speaks so fast that I have to go again and munch on what he really says. And I am glad I did!

It is such a pleasure to see how Woody evolved from a timid teenager to a prolific screen writer/director/actor who never seems to run out of ideas and energy. Woody was positioned like a friend taking you to where he grew up and where he was bullied and how he came up with all his gags. Then we are shown him performing the saxophone. What a versatile artist!

It was fascinating seeing how he has been using the same manual typewriter since he was 17. Excellent editing in showing us how he stores and retrieves his ideas and how he manually cut and paste his writing.

Other than letting the director speak about himself and showing us around, we also see how other actresses/actors and his family talk about him. We also have a little glimpse of how they interact on the set, not to mention various clips of his signature movies. Woody seems to have this talent of letting actresses relax and blossom under his direction, which he encourages a lot of empowerment thus ownership. It must be rewarding and satisfying working with him.

The only shortcoming of this production, if I may say, is the absence of Mia Farrow who obviously plays an important role in his life and his movies. Otherwise, it was such a pleasure getting a closer and personal look at this important icon of our era.

When the history of cinema is written a hundred years from now, Woody Allen's name will pop up quite a few times. Actor. Writer. Director. Comedian. The quintessential Jewish-American man. From Seinfeld characters to Family Guy to The Simpsons, so much of American pop culture is littered with characters based off the persona that Allen immortalised.

But in Woody Allen: A Documentary, documentarian Robert B. Weide seeks to get inside the mind of this endlessly parodied, forcibly stereotyped individual. Allen is his usual self-deprecating Jewish-American self, but it's the supporting cast – Diane Keaton, Naomi Watts, Scarlett Johansson, et al. – who really paint the best picture. We learn about Allen's directing techniques; what made him such a magnetic 'leading man'; and how his personal life affected (or didn't, really) his professional life.

As all movie fans will know, Allen is responsible for some of the greatest movies of the modern era. Annie Hall is constantly cited as a great Hollywood classic, as are other accomplishments like Hannah And Her Sisters and Manhattan. The documentary moves chronologically through his back catalogue, discussing his intentions about each movie, the filmmaking process, and the critical reception. You listen to the cast, his family, and Allen himself discuss just how much of himself was present in his movies. What I loved most about the film is that it doesn't pander to Allen. Yes, this is a documentary about the man, so it does celebrate his brilliance as an artist. But Weide doesn't hold back in exploring the mistakes he made, both in his personal and professional life. In particular, his relationship with cinematic muse Mia Farrow is chronicled, painting Woody as a very conflicted and somewhat selfish man.

What you take away from this documentary is appreciation for what Allen has achieved, and what he has brought to modern cinema. To continue to beat to his own drum at a time when studios have pigeonholed directors so much is admirable, especially when he's making one film a year. It's so easy (and so romantic) to see cinema as an artform. Woody Allen shows that it is a skill, a technique constantly being honed. Good stuff.