{"id":13542,"date":"2006-01-06T16:49:00","date_gmt":"2006-01-06T16:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lookingcloser.wordpress.com\/2006\/01\/06\/steven-greydanus-on-match-point\/"},"modified":"2012-10-29T14:26:39","modified_gmt":"2012-10-29T20:26:39","slug":"steven-greydanus-on-match-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2006\/01\/steven-greydanus-on-match-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Steven Greydanus on "Match Point""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

For what it\u2019s worth, while I\u2019d probably rate the film as a C because it is very well crafted, I agree with Steven\u2019s observations about the film. Match Point <\/em>is a work of wicked, twisted genius, one that comes to dangerous and frightening conclusions about reality and morality. This is a great review.<\/a><\/p>\n

The first shot in Woody Allen\u2019s Match Point <\/em>is meant to serve as a metaphorical master-image for the film as a whole: a freeze-frame shot of a tennis ball suspended in space over the net after striking it, poised between falling on one side of the net or the other. It\u2019s an image of blind chance: Which side the ball lands on has nothing to do with which player is more skilled, let alone more deserving. The universe is indifferent to the outcome and its consequences.<\/p>\n

Match Point <\/em>has been hailed as a return to form for Allen, in particular harkening to the director\u2019s landmark 1989 film Crimes and Misdemeanors<\/em>, which treats similar themes of infidelity, murder and ultimate meaning.<\/p>\n

In fact, Match Point <\/em>can be read as a kind of loose remake of Crimes and Misdemeanors<\/em>, or rather a distillation of its dark moral drama, purged of the earlier film\u2019s comedic plot threads involving Alan Alda\u2019s and Allen\u2019s characters. In the past Allen has expressed his dissatisfaction with the comedic portions of Crimes and Misdemeanors<\/em>, feeling that these detract from the film\u2019s more serious heart. Match Point <\/em>is perhaps meant to be Crimes and Misdemeanors<\/em> as it should have been.<\/p>\n

Except it isn\u2019t. In fact, Match Point <\/em>lacks precisely what is, at least arguably, the most haunting element in the earlier film: its sense of genuinely conflicted existential drama.<\/p>\n

Crimes and Misdemeanors <\/em>is an obsessive meditation on the razor\u2019s edge between guilt and unbelief, a film torn between radically different existential alternatives. Like the tennis ball in the opening shot of Match Point<\/em>, the moral drama in Crimes and Misdemeanors <\/em>is suspended between two outcomes, and absolutely everything hangs in the balance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He\u2019s just getting started\u2026<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For what it\u2019s worth, while I\u2019d probably rate the film as a C because it is very well crafted, I agree with Steven\u2019s observations about the film. Match Point is a work of wicked, twisted genius, one that comes to dangerous and frightening conclusions about reality and morality. This is a great review. The first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1801,493,1423],"class_list":["post-13542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-match-point","tag-steven-greydanus","tag-woody-allen"],"yoast_head":"\nSteven Greydanus on "Match Point"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For what it's worth, while I'd probably rate the film as a C because it is very well crafted, I agree with Steven's observations about the film. 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