(1987)
2.5
Perry Seibert
September, Woody Allen's second outright serious film after Interiors, feels hermetically sealed. By this point in his career, Allen had displayed time and time again that he was capable of comedic dialogue that was nuanced, layered, and revealed something about the characters who spoke it. Sadly, he was unable to apply those substantial skills to a film dealing solely in the dramatic. Luckily, the actors make much of this material work better than it should. Farrow, Weist, and Elaine Stritch are all given deeply dramatic, though somewhat uninvolving, characters. September needs to teem with life for it to work. Allen's deliberate, meditative camera style makes the film feel like a painting in which people move. This material would probably work better as a play, seeing as a viewer would be confronted with three-dimensional people delivering heartfelt, if two-dimensional dialogue. Instead, the static camera work and the unvarying set expose the weaknesses in the script, and suffocate the actors. Their fine work is never given the chance to connect with the audience.
releases for September on AllMovie
September (1987)
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Title/Studio |
Release Date |
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September
MGM
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April 15, 2002 |
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September
MGM
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June 5, 2001 |