Sony Pictures Classics, 2009, 92 minutes
To view the trailer, go here.
Woody Allen takes a break from the gloom that dominates Cassandra's Dream to tell the hilarious tale of Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David), a chess-playing pessimist and self-described "genius" who walks with a limp, the result of a failed of a suicide attempt. Boris's hypochondria and obvious disdain for his fellow man make him a latter-day hybrid of Moliere's iconic Misanthrope and Imaginary Invalid; his dim views on life and love are straight out of Chekhov. (His insistent philosophical kibitzing, meanwhile, is a nod to the legendary Columbia University professor Sidney Morgenbesser.)
OK, so the story seems bleak at first, and the opening monologue certainly gives it potential to dip into the dark side. But David's persistent smirk, the gleaming whiteness of his teeth, and his habit of speaking directly to the audience a la Tom Jones, all hint that there's light at the end of Boris's tunnel. That light ends up being as blinding as a halogen chandelier.
Boris is ripe for poking by Cupid's arrow, so love finds him in the improbably gorgeous form of Melodie St. Ann Celestine (Evan Rachel Wood), a creamy-skinned barely legal, runaway Southern belle. But despite Boris' dismissal of Melodie as an intellectual "inchworm" (his favorite put-down), she reveals that she's not as dumb as Boris thinks and that she's a very quick study. The first clue comes as she quickly finds work as a dog walker, deftly handling several customers at a time including, on various outings, a Beagle, a Lab, a Shiba Inu, a Pit Bull and a Samoyed. She's even poised enough to handle all her charges calmly while stopping to talk to a guy walking a Westie - no easy feat.
Boris isn't the only one in the film who experiences the worldview-altering phenomenon called love. Incredibly, it's conveyed the old-fashioned way, as in a 1930s-era screwball comedy (or a Moliere play) without any onscreen sex, and yet it's surprisingly satisfying. By the end, we're reminded of love's power to level political, religious, and cultural differences, so long as we're open to possibility - any possibility. The movie's final proof of this involves a dog, specifically a wiry Parson Russell Terrior. We won't spoil it, but the scene is an imaginative meet-cute that could- and does- convert the ultimate pessimist.
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