The reluctant film art of Woody Allen / Peter J. Bailey.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

That old black magic: Woody Allen's ambivalent artistry -- Strictly the movies: Play it again, Sam -- Getting serious: the antimimetic emblems of Annie Hall -- Art and idealization: I'll fake Manhattan -- Strictly the movies ii: how Radio days generated nights at the movies -- Life stand still here: Interiors dialogue -- In the stardust of a song: Stardust memories -- Woody's mild Jewish Rose: Broadway Danny Rose -- The fine art of living well: Hannah and her sisters -- If you want a Hollywood ending: Crimes and misdemeanors -- Everyone loves her/his illusions: The purple rose of Cairo and Shadows and fog -- Poetic license, bullshit: Bullets over Broadway -- Let's just live it: Woody Allen in the 1990s -- Because it's real difficult in life: Husbands and wives -- Rear condo: Manhattan murder mystery -- That voodoo that you do so well: Mighty Aphrodite -- And what a perfect plot: Everyone says I love you and Zelig -- How we choose to distort it: Deconstructing Harry -- From the neck up: Another woman and Celebrity -- Allen and his audience: Sweet and lowdown -- Confrontation and escape: Allen's twenty-first-century meditations on comedy and tragedy -- The magic of luck: Scoop, Magic in the moonlight, and Match point -- The heart still wants what it wants: Vicky Cristina Barcelona and You will meet a tall dark stranger -- "People reinvent themselves, don't they?": Midnight in Paris and Blue Jasmine -- Epilogue.

For five decades, no American filmmaker has been as prolific - or as paradoxical - as Woody Allen. From Play It Again, Sam (1972) to Midnight in Paris (2011) and Blue Jasmine (2013), Allen has produced an average of one film a year; yet in many of these movies Allen reveals a progressively skeptical attitude toward both the value of art and the cultural contributions of artists. In this second edition Peter J. Bailey extends his classic study to consider Allen's work during the twenty-first century. He illuminates how the director's decision to leave New York to shoot in European cities such as London, Paris, Rome, and Barcelona has affected his craft. He also explores Allen's shift toward younger actors and interprets the evolving critical reaction to his films, authoritatively demonstrating why the director's lifelong project of moviemaking remains endlessly deserving of careful attention. -- from back cover.