The Best Old Movies on a Big Screen This Week: NYC Repertory Cinema Picks, September 30-October 1
Stardust Memories (1980)
Directed by Woody Allen
There’s a small but devoted coterie of fans who consider Stardust Memories to be Allen’s greatest film. Such a fan might argue that it’s the film of his that synthesizes his influences into an autocritique of his own style, merging with the artistry of Fellini in order to comment on the referential shape his narcissism frequently took. They would perhaps mention that Allen’s recreation of the dreamy modernist 8 1/2 is a dazzling work of homage that winks just enough that it avoids slavishness or mimicry. Then they could conceivably say, this phantom acolyte, that the self-deprecating humor and cracked romantics have the rush of an epic thanks to the scope of the film’s setting, an unruly meta-monarchy in revolt against its god/king. They might get a little lost in thought just remembering the way the film seems to capture a peculiar sensation—like you once felt like you had it all figured out and now you’re adrift. Though of course you’d have to ask one of those crazy people to find out. Scout Tafoya (October 6, 7:30pm at the Nitehawk, with introduction and book signing by Tom Shone, author of Woody Allen: A Retrospective)