Woody Allen is back with his fiftieth film (yes, TV films count), Irrational Man. It is opening in the UK, September 11th, 2015.
Irrational Man is about a philosophy professor, Abe Lucas (Joaquin Phoenix), suffering from despair, teaching at a small town college, ready and willing to let go of any hope of leading a meaningful life. His relatively youthful appearance and questionable sanity attracts two women—a fellow professor (played by Parker Posey) trapped in an unhappy marriage and a young student (Emma Stone) looking for friendship and then some. But something changes when Abe and his bright-eyed student overhear a conversation in a diner—the hideout for any and all depressives, but never, to my knowledge (and in my experience) a linchpin of profound personal change. Abe becomes increasingly unstable, but alive again, and, of course, because this is Woody Allen here, the dominoes fall down a slope heading for the edge of a cliff.
Irrational Man premiered at Cannes earlier this year to ho-hum positivity—it’s roundly described as a decent enough effort for late-period Woody Allen, which is a mouthful of potentially pretentious praise. But the trailer below seems to confirm the diagnosis. We’ve got voiceovers—never a good sign, unless you light up to filmic exposition—and Joaquin Phoenix with a potbelly and a strange look in his eye. Will this be a one-man show the same way Allen’s semi-recent darling Blue Jasmine spotlighted Cate Blanchett? Or will Emma Stone and Parker Posey bring the goods? Is Woody Allen really going to deliver on another dark comedy dealing with the moral implications, or lack thereof, of murder? Only a viewing will tell.
While the film opens in the US July 17th, the UK will have to see for itself when theater doors open this September. Their proper moviegoers might even vote on the film’s success in a referendum similar to what the Greeks recently participated in. Except then an entire nation’s wellbeing will not hang in the balance. Though I suppose, if Allen gets pissed off enough, he could stir up trouble with the Queen’s will-call tickets.
