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| Woody Allen |
Welcome to Alternative to What: a weekly column that tries to find a great alternative to driving to the multiplexes. Based on releases of that week, the selections will either be thematically related or feature recurring cast and crew. The goal is to help you better understand the diversity of cinema and hopefully find you some favorites while saving a few bucks. At worse, this column will save you money. Expect each installment to come out on Fridays, unless specified.
THIS WEEK:
Stardust Memories (1980)
- Alternative To -
Top Five (2014)
There is something fascinating about Chris Rock's career. For the most part, he is one of the indisputable stand-up comedians. He mixes vibrant energy and language with deeper social context. His work is compelling and authentic in ways that very few counterparts are. He is the quintessential black comedian of the 90's that transcends the ethnic trappings that unfortunately come with the profession.
The only thing that doesn't add up is the rest of his career. I'm not talking about his stints on Saturday Night Live and In Living Color. However, most of his acting since hasn't necessarily turned him into the powerhouse star that his stand-up paved the way for. If anything, he plays second banana in most of the films, which are often subpar or below him intellectually. The issue is that when he directs movies, he takes things seriously and in the case of Top Five, he goes to one of the most meta places imaginable: his own career. True, it may not directly reflect his career and this may sound a little like Funny People minus the cancer plot, but it is a film that embodies his biggest traits in what is being reported as the best, funniest ways possible.
This sounds very reminiscent of a Woody Allen classic called Stardust Memories. For starters, both films are based around comedians trying to be taken seriously. In the world of Rock, he has a more celebrity bent that involves tabloids and other fiascos. In the case of Allen's film, it is equal parts experimental as it is an existential exploration to the question "How come you're not funny anymore?" While Rock's film is a tribute to Allen down to the surname, Allen's film is a tribute not only to his career, but to the films of Federico Fellini. It is surreal and beautiful, owing a lot to 8 1/2.
While it is easy to just go down a rabbit hole of "films influencing films," I choose Stardust Memories for a lot of obvious similarities. Both focus on fictional versions of the director's actual career, which began in stand-up and lead to a film career. It is also their most authentic films in showing the director's capabilities. While Top Five likely doesn't involve aliens and a lot of visual flourishes, there's probably a lot of symbolism present that emphasizes the deeper conflicts of the artist and his audience. Allen was a veteran by this point as a director, so he manage to deftly tell a compelling story with nuances to spare.
For the most part, Allen's films in the 80's are a deliciously experimental era in which he didn't just ape world cinema, he found a deeper and more mature voice in the process. By Crimes and Misdemeanors at the end of the decade, he found a niche that only grew more into the focus. For Stardust Memories, the goofy Allen was still a dominant force who was coming to terms with age and arguably at the height of his creative powers. The film is surreal, a tribute and also just very personal to the point that even Allen admits that it's his favorite of his works. I can only imagine that Top Five has the same appeal to Rock.
I am unsure what to make about Top Five at this point, though I do think that it having a slight familiarity to Allen's masterpiece makes him at least admirable. I feel that much like Allen in 1980, he was misunderstood and his genius wasn't quite as focused as it would be later on. Yes, Rock is more foul mouthed and racial than Allen will ever be, but both are artists who are fascinated by the process and want to explore them through film. In an era where black films aren't making it out to a wide audience, there's something ambitious about Top Five and the hope that it will have something deeper to say. Whether or not it will be Stardust Memories great in the long run is yet to be seen. Still, if the subject interests you, Stardust Memories is a rather great film to watch.
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