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You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

Not Macbeth, but good enough.By John DeSando, "It's Movie Time," "Cinema Classics," and "On the Marquee"

"A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Shakespeare, Macbeth

Woody Allen doesn't write comedies: His films are about social manners with laughs a second place to irony. His latest ironic piece, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, emphasizes, as the title suggests, the futile quest of urbanites for an elusive dream, frequently someone of the opposite sex, who usually won't take care of the entire selection of happy needs for any character.

Roy (Josh Brolin) and Sally (Naomi Watts) rent in London while she works at an art gallery and he at his second novel. Her mother, Helena (Gemma Jones), consults a charlatan fortune teller (hence the title), and sets up the film's leitmotif of foolishly trying to peer into the future. Meanwhile dad, Alfie (Anthony Hopkins), leaves Helena for a younger woman, Charmaine (Lucy Punk), with all the attendant problems such out-of-balance unions cause. Roy's obsession with his rear-window view, Dia (Freida Pinto), leads to problems with his marriage and ultimately his writing.

Allen's shrewd, satirical parsing of the January-May motif reinforces that his own experience with a seriously younger wife has been a learning experience; his staying married to the daughter of a former wife is a tribute to his ability to cross generations with wisdom. His understanding of the challenges writers encounter, not only their block but also the temptation to plagiarize, certifies Allen as one of the brightest writer/directors in American cinema.

Most of the principals in the film are making changes for love and seriously suffering for the efforts. And all under the umbrella of illusory dreams that rarely seem to come true (The choice of Leon Redbone singing the titles and credits with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is thematically and Woody appropriate, notwithstanding his choice of jazz pieces that are always perfect).

Allen is at his best when the ironies fly like wedding confetti.

John DeSando co-hosts It's Movie Time, Cinema Classics, and On the Marquee for WCBE 90.5. The shows can be heard streaming at http://publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/ppr/index.shtml and on demand at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/arts.artsmain Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com