There comes a time in every director, every writer, every person who creates works of art, when he or she comes against the brick wall of re-evaluation which entails the need to look back and see the mistakes, the paths tread, the work that has been done, the detours, and do an assessment of where now is, where the future -- if there is one -- lies. Woody Allen, no stranger to homages and to the criticism his work -- and its progression -- had received as he went further and further away from the "earlier, funnier" movies he made, goes into Fellini's territory -- namely, 8 1/2 -- and sums up an array of images that could very well be a neat, carbon copy of what the Italian had made back in 1963. On his way to the Stardust hotel, Sandy Bates views another train filled with passengers (among them a "pretty lady" who blows him a kiss, none other than Sharon Stone making her film debut and sort of playing the wispy, fleeting role that Caterina Borato played in Fellini's masterpiece). Once he arrives to the hotel, everyone, including aliens, harass him on everything from his earlier comedies (which were much better according to them) to the most trivial of aspects, one of them which is his sister demanding that he take more charge of her life. At the same time, Sandy juggles affairs with several women, among them the blonde Isobel (Marie Christine Barrault, a neat substitute for Mia Farrow), Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling, a nice variation on Diane Keaton), and Daisy (Jessica Harper, ditto). STARDUST MEMORIES looks equally as great as MANHATTAN, being shot in the same textured black and white, but unless the viewer is in on the joke, this one may fall a bit flat on its face due to the very reflexiveness of its story. However, without resorting to the excesses that Fellini did in 8 1/2 (no scenes of women fighting over him, loudly, in a very Italian mode), it's darkly funny in that very personal Woody way that has become his staple. This is Woody facing his own career, his own life, even when it seems to have been done a little too early in his career which continues alive and well today, a quarter of a century later.
Review of Stardust Memories
