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March 23, 2006
Match Point
There was a time when I could proudly say that I had seen all of Woody Allen's feature films. Three full days at the sadly missed Carlton Movie House in the mid 1980s filled in 'missing' films such as The Front, Interiors and Zelig. Although it had been a slow start for me (I hated his films until my mid 20s) all of Allen's 60s, 70s and 80s films had something going for them. They were either out and out funny or ironic, and frequently both. Then something happened. Whether it was the highly acrimonious divorce from Mia Farrow or publicity that came from it, Allen seemed to dry up. He was still making and appearing in films, but the only one I managed to see for eight years was the documentary about his European jazz tour Wild Man Blues (Barbara Kopple - 1997)- and that I had to search out to a underground cinema in London in 1999. Melinda and Melinda (2004) was a good film and had a local release, but was hardly classic Allen.
Match Point is not Allen's best film ever, it is not a return to his best mid 1970s films such as Manhattan and Annie Hall, yet it is certainly his best film since 'Husbands and Wives' and 'Shadows and Fog' from 1992. Unusually for Allen too is that the film is not only not set in New York, but in London - perhaps something to do with BBC funding?
In Match Point Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is a high ranking professional tennis player who, bored with being not quite good enough on the circuit, takes up a position as a coach in a tennis club that attracts the well to do. He soon meets Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) who introduces him to his sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer). Chris is drawn into the very well to do family and is more or less pressured in to a top job in the family business and marrying Chloe. Chris also meets Tom's beautiful, but slightly unstable fiancé Nola (Scarlet Johansson) and the inevitable affair develops. A fatal attraction develops and Chris must make the choice between his very comfortable existence with the Hewitt's and his sexual passion for Nola.
Match Point is a drama about ambition and obsession, the seduction of wealth, and the often-jarring relationship between love and lust. Perhaps most importantly, however, the story reveals the huge part luck plays in the events of our lives, refuting the comforting misconception that more of our life is under our control than it really is.
The subject matter is not a new area for Allen, who does not appear in the film, and Match Point is more or less a straight drama sprinkled with Allen's trademark irony. As always Allen get fabulous performances from his actors. Perhaps the only discordant mark against the film was the casting of James Nesbitt (Cold Feet) as a policeman, it is hard to take him seriously following his comedic roles (such as the scene in Cold Feet where he woo's Rachel (Helen Baxendale) by standing naked outside her house with a rose held between his lower cheeks) and the constant smirk on his face.
Overall, Match Point is an excellent film that maintains Allen's ironic view of modern upper class city society and returns him to the forefront of filmmaking.
4.5 stars
Posted by andrewrenaut at March 23, 2006 12:51 PM