Wild Man Blues

This film provides a deeper insight into Woody Allen's private life, not to mention a treat for anyone who loves old New Orlean's jazz.

What I found most interesting was seeing Woody Allen as he really is which isn't much different from his characters in his movies. His interactions with people, his humor, his moods, his explanations of himself, seeing his interaction with his parents.

It was very real. Very human. Just what you'd expect from Woody Allen.

Some key quotes:

His wife, Soon yi said: "When she came to see you play, she said that's the most movement she's seen from you from the whole time she's known you."

Woody: "The most movement? What does she expect? I mean, I'm not gonna bob my head and tap my feet when I'm talking about politics or literature or something. I'm not going to keep time. Right? Be reasonable. I'm appropriately animated for a human in the context within which I exist."

Lady: "You are so intelligent. You are so happy to be so intelligent." Woody (jokingly): "Well, yes. It is a burden though sometimes. With this much intelligence comes great responsibility. You know. It's lonely at the top."

In the hotel restaurant walking around: "Oh, there's the band. Oh, my goodness, they're eating like their going to the 'chair'."

"Whenever I travel, I always have to have my own bathroom because I'm crazy. So I always wind up taking an extra room or an extra suite of rooms. Then I can place around all my unctions and vanishing creams and the cosmetics that give me this look."

With his wife at breakfast in their Milan hotel: "You know, this being Milan, I hope our laundry doesn't come back breaded."

"I've got the kind of personality that when I'm here (Europe) I miss New York and when I'm in New York I miss Europe. I just don't like being where I am at any given moment. I would rather be somewhere else. So you know there's no way to beat that problem because no matter where you are, you know what I mean, it's chronic dissatisfaction."

In London with a bad cold: "What a drag. I was looking forward to giving a good show tonight. I don't want to just go out there and make an achievement till I get through the show. I want the show to be very good cause if I'm not good, these people will hate me in my own language."

I really love this movie. Woody Allen appears as a very nice man. Other comments are very right, referring to his movie Stardust Memories. I think it's a little bit sad that all these people wants to see him because he's a famous actor and director, and not because of the music he and his partners seems to love so much. That happens to be my favorite kind of jazz (Jelly Roll Morton! Yeah!) and the band are doin' it in a very attractive way. This movie should be just about music.

Wild Man Blues (named after a terrific Louis Armstrong song) shows Woody Allen during his trip to Europe and abroad for a tour with his Jazz band. So the question you might be asking is, how much is shown? How candid does filmmaker Barbara Kopple go into the behind-the-scenes and off-the-stage stuff in the film? One could say not enough, but then how personal can one get with a cinematic heavyweight like Allen? True, it's not always just him that carries the interest in the film; his New Orleans Jazz band (the same, more or less, that gave that hilariously cool score for his film Sleeper) is toe-tapping fun, especially if you like this sort of music (I got into it a little more after watching the Ken Burns documentary), with Eddie Davis the banjo player and director of the group a real treat. It may be odd to say, but despite Woody's talent at the clarinet, it sometimes doesn't bring as much attention for one as does the 'talky' scenes.

And some of these, of course, have the young Soon-Yi Prevlin in tow. This was of course a few years after the whole hoopla went over about the break-up and all. It's curious to see how their relationship goes in the film, what is and what isn't shown, and this is I think when Kopple gets the most personal, even if it's a little uncomfortably so. Indeed, this is an Allen that is not really like the one he portrays in film after film- it does have the moments of humor, and his neuroses are in full view of the lens. But by giving it this extra view, it shows him as much more of a relatable person, or maybe not (the film does show him in Europe as being far more celebrity-like than here). In all, it works best as an objective view of the subject matter, of a director who also happens to be a good musician who enjoys playing what he calls "crude...esoteric music" of old. It is, at least for the Woody admirer, entirely watchable.

This is a documentary account of Allen's tour of Europe with his New Orleans jazz band. Barbara Kopple directs effectively and seems to have the ability to be there at the crucial moment without the scenes looking staged or faked. I do not know if the film is a deliberate attempt to counter the bad publicity Allen received over his affair with the teenage Soon-Yi. Certainly the now 27 year-old Soon-Yi appears to be the dominant one of the partnership like a kindly but strict mother controlling the behaviour of her naughty child. I particularly enjoyed the breakfast scene in Madrid where she gently scolds Allen for not showing sufficient appreciation to the members of his band. She orders Spanish omelette because it seems to be the appropriate thing to have and then makes Allen eat it because it tastes like rubber. The final scene is fascinating with Allen and Soon-Yi back in New York visiting Allen's parents, both in their 90s. Both parents are dismissive of Allen's achievements and his mother confesses that she wanted him to marry a nice Jewish girl.

Allen's clarinet playing is variable. He seems to be having trouble with his reed throughout the tour. On good nights he sounds like a reasonable George Lewis imitator, on a bad night in Paris he could barely coax a note out of his instrument. The audiences loved him apart from a bejewelled invited audience in Rome that clapped politely and sat wearing bemused smiles throughout the performance

Here is the famous filmmaker-actor-comedian in a forthright documentary of his touring jazz-band. It's not really his band – but for all intents and purposes it may as well be. If it weren't for Woody this band would just be another New Orleans jazz style band. They certainly wouldn't fill any concert halls across Europe (in fact they wouldn't be there at all).

We see a lot of Woody and Soon Yi in candid conversations – many of them in lavish hotel rooms in Europe (I am not kidding – one has a private swimming pool!). There is a sequence at the end with Woody's parents' in Brooklyn – this is hilarious and looks like it is straight out of one of his films. I have to admit that Woody is quite gracious with his fans who obviously adore him. If you're a fan in any way this is recommended, its' Woody as cinema verite. The only complaint I have is too many performances of the jazz-band.