Woody Allen, despite long and prolific filmography that made him a household name, had its fandom always limited to relatively small section of the general audience. Some of his films require even more niche fandom, like 1992 dark comedy Shadows and Fog.
The plot is set in unnamed 1920s (presumably Central European) city terrorised by mysterious and seemingly unstoppable serial killer. Protagonist, played by Allen himself, is Kleinman, clerk who gets awaken in the middle of the night by a gang of vigilantes that want him to help them catch the killer. Kleinman very reluctantly joins them, but due to poor planning and organisation, is left mostly to wander on dark and foggy streets while the killer continues to take new victims. In the meantime, sword swallowing performer Irmy (played by Mia Farrow) leaves nearby circus after catching her boyfriend, clown Paul (played by John Malkovich) with another woman performer named Marie (played by Madonna). After a long walk Irmy ends up in city brothel where she accepts offer of a drunk university student Jack (played by John Cusack) to have sex with him for a large amount of money. Later, she gets arrested by police and in the station she stumbles on Kleinman who soon realises that inadvertently left evidence that could point towards him as a killer.
There is very small section of hardcore cinephiles that could easily recognise Shadows and Fog and Allen’s loving tribute to the classic works of German Expressionist cinema like Murnau’s Nosferatu and Lang’s M. Allen has put a great effort to capture the style and atmosphere of those film, with the aid of black-and-white cinematography by Carlo Di Palma and production design by Santo Loquasto, with 1920s songs by German composer Kurt Weil providing soundtrack. Allen insisted on making film in New York City and that resulted in huge studio set that contributed to Shadows and Fog being his most expensive film to this date and, later, added to financial woes that would bankrupt Orion Pictures studio.
This effort, however, in the end represents just another example of Hollywood’s insistence on style over substance. The most noticeable flaw is miscasting of Allen whose trademark persona of neurotic New York intellectual seems out of place in strange and surreal world from hundred years ago. The rest of the cast seems to be much better, like Mia Farrow in her penultimate common on screen appearance with Allen (made shortly before scandal-affected Husbands and Wives). John Malkovich is also good in one of his more down-to-earth roles, just as John Cusack as an intellectual trying to rationalise his lust. The bigger problem for Shadows and Fog is lack of focus and proper genre identity. Film is supposed to be a comedy, but most jokes are simply not funny and the most memorable scenes look more like they belong to a slasher film, sappy melodrama or pretentious art drama. Lack of proper closure at the end would make audience even less satisfied. In the end, Shadows and Fog is the film that could be recommended only to very small section of Allen’s fans who like even author’s work that turns out to be an obvious failure.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417 Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/19200-shadows-and-fog Critic: AA
