It's no secret that Woody Allen tends to make his films somewhat autobiographical of his own life and personal experiences, but Stardust Memories takes it to the next level. It is basically a complete reflection of Allen's state of mind in 1980. The movie is about a film director named Sandy Bates, who is starting to have anxiety about what he is doing for a living and starts to question its purpose. He goes into a retrospective recluse about his previous work and begins to recall all the things that influence his love of film. I wasn't alive in 1980 and I didn't know Woody Allen in 1980, but if you can't call this autobiographical to the extreme, I don't know what you can.
Stardust Memories is an odd film because it really has no storyline. It is told in an anecdotal narrative style as Bates recalls different moments in his life as new moments arise and influence him. He considers all the different oddities that inspired him to make the popular films he's made. There are a lot of different women in Bates' life and they all have various amounts of influence on him as a filmmaker, and the whole film is told through these stories about women he's encountered or loved in the past. After a while you start to think, what is the point of all this? The film doesn't seem to be going anywhere after a while, and it all boils down to just a lot of retrospect and internal conflict more than anything else. It feels as though Woody Allen made this film for himself rather than anybody else. And there isn't necessarily anything wrong with that, but to the viewer it's not very appealing.
One of the biggest issues with this film is that Woody Allen's character, Sandy Bates, isn't likable. He's a complete narcissist and is completely full of himself. He doesn't necessarily convey it outwardly dramatically, but he has a constant aura of egotistical jerk that is impossible to really connect with. He feels detached from the world and it makes it difficult to relate to his conflict, but that really just goes back to the fact that this is a film for Woody, not a film for the audience. And that's a paradox that just doesn't work with me, and it only made me feel like this film was a waste of time.
Artistically this film doesn't have a whole lot going for it either. It has your typical Woody Allen nuances, but not to the level that some of his other great films have. It doesn't stick to one specific style and its thoughts seem a little scattered. It is shot in black and white which was interesting, but eventually got to the point where it served no purpose. Visually there was nothing in this film that gave me that fascination or 'wow' reaction that Allen's films typically incite in me. There are undoubtedly some well designed moments of the film with shots that made me nod my head in appreciation, but it doesn't have that consistent visual style that other Woody Allen films have.
Allen was 45 years old when he made this film. I think you could definitely call it his mid-life crisis movie. All of the thoughts that were whizzing around in Allen's mind at that point in his neurotic life are conveyed and put into a script through Stardust Memories. For Allen I'm sure this film was a huge success that probably helped him sort through his life and allow his mind to clamber out of that jumbled crisis it was going through. But for me as the viewer I didn't get much of anything out of this film. Allen's intentions were clear, but the movie felt like a waste of time.
Stardust Memories is an odd film because it really has no storyline. It is told in an anecdotal narrative style as Bates recalls different moments in his life as new moments arise and influence him. He considers all the different oddities that inspired him to make the popular films he's made. There are a lot of different women in Bates' life and they all have various amounts of influence on him as a filmmaker, and the whole film is told through these stories about women he's encountered or loved in the past. After a while you start to think, what is the point of all this? The film doesn't seem to be going anywhere after a while, and it all boils down to just a lot of retrospect and internal conflict more than anything else. It feels as though Woody Allen made this film for himself rather than anybody else. And there isn't necessarily anything wrong with that, but to the viewer it's not very appealing.
One of the biggest issues with this film is that Woody Allen's character, Sandy Bates, isn't likable. He's a complete narcissist and is completely full of himself. He doesn't necessarily convey it outwardly dramatically, but he has a constant aura of egotistical jerk that is impossible to really connect with. He feels detached from the world and it makes it difficult to relate to his conflict, but that really just goes back to the fact that this is a film for Woody, not a film for the audience. And that's a paradox that just doesn't work with me, and it only made me feel like this film was a waste of time.
Artistically this film doesn't have a whole lot going for it either. It has your typical Woody Allen nuances, but not to the level that some of his other great films have. It doesn't stick to one specific style and its thoughts seem a little scattered. It is shot in black and white which was interesting, but eventually got to the point where it served no purpose. Visually there was nothing in this film that gave me that fascination or 'wow' reaction that Allen's films typically incite in me. There are undoubtedly some well designed moments of the film with shots that made me nod my head in appreciation, but it doesn't have that consistent visual style that other Woody Allen films have.
Allen was 45 years old when he made this film. I think you could definitely call it his mid-life crisis movie. All of the thoughts that were whizzing around in Allen's mind at that point in his neurotic life are conveyed and put into a script through Stardust Memories. For Allen I'm sure this film was a huge success that probably helped him sort through his life and allow his mind to clamber out of that jumbled crisis it was going through. But for me as the viewer I didn't get much of anything out of this film. Allen's intentions were clear, but the movie felt like a waste of time.