Love and Death

This Woody Allen flick is by far the funniest of his that I have seen thus far, although i don't think its as good as a film as Annie Hall or The Purple Rose of Cairo, both which I consider masterpieces of Woody's, Love and death is still a brilliant film. The story of Boris Grushenko (Allen), a Russian who is caught up in the invasion of the french lead by Napoleon (Tolkan). Meanwhile he also loves Sonja (Keaton), a girl who has confusions of her own. The film is written brilliantly, great dialogues and wit, its truly offbeat humor, the funniest from Woody. Although his direction here is a bit weird, and at times the plot is not believable at all and obviously satirical, the performances and great dialogues make it work. It was a bit redundant and had a bit too much slapstick at times but still enjoyable. Watching this film, truly had me laughing throughout. Woody was perfect in his role, probably my favorite acting from him along with his acting in Annie Hall. Diane Keaton was also great here, not as good as her other work in this decade (GF, GF2 and Annie Hall), however still great here. James Tolkan was also great as Napoleon. 9/10 #91 on list of all time favorite films

source: Love and Death

Love and Death

Boris Grushenko (Woody Allen) is facing execution as he recounts his story. In Czarist Russia, Boris is in love with his intellectual cousin Sonja (Diane Keaton). She is jilted by Boris' handsome brother Ivan and marries a rich herring merchant instead. Despite being a coward, Boris is drafted to fight in the Napoleonic Wars. Sonja becomes a widow. Ivan is killed in the war but Boris becomes an accidental hero. The two reunite to marry and try to save the world by assassinating Napoleon. This is a parody of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy novels in a spoof. As such, this may not be to everyone's taste. One has to have a wide-ranging literary and art film knowledge to appreciate a lot of the jokes. Diane Keaton does get to do more in this one. She has some darker sides and is almost equal to Woody. The literary crowd may have some laughs although they may be too stuffy to relax about the skewering.