To Rome With Love: A Charming Tribute

Disclaimer: This write-up in no way can put into words the amount of pleasure the film has given me. It is my first Woody Allen film in a theatre and I’m glad I finally caught one.

Through the eyes and words of a Traffic Police in Roma Woody Allen choses to give us four stories that took place in the European city which becomes his latest muse. For all we know he might have had several others to tell us but for what he gave us we should be immensely thankful to the master.

To Rome With Love is a charming little film that talks about greater things like infidelity, lust, jealousy, fame and the ridiculousness of them all. These are the themes Allen has been talking about since ages but we still want to listen to him all the same courtesy his characteristic wit. Despite the darker themes and grey shades in the characters, they all are so endearing and believable. In a way he shows us how our behaviors are humanely vulnerable. The possibilities and the actions in correspondence can be frightening to a skeptic eye but thankfully he goes easy on his nihilism and does not cram the film with such lines. Cinematographer Darius Khondji uses this to his advantage and gives us some of the most spectacular and breathtaking shots of Rome.

Roberto Benigni’s act as the person troubled by the instant fame without a reason and his frustration at the equally unreasonable abandonment by the fame is the stuff of legends. The lesson that you learn out of this episode is so meaningful and fulfilling and this track alone is reason enough for watching this film. Alec Badwin as the architect who looks back at his youth through the life of another architect is so warm with a lot of interesting insights into other peoples’ lives. Penelope Cruz as ever is sexy while Judy Davis playing Woody Allen’s wife walks away with the best lines of them all. And I have not finished them all yet.

The risk with a film having four tracks is that you cannot connect to some and this has been the case with this film too. Personally, I did not like the story of Woody Allen, an irony considering the brilliant stories the man had for the others. But he makes it up with his death fearing act. His scene at the dining table with the Michelangelo family where he tries to coax a bathroom singer to something meaningful and great is hilarious and trademark Woody Allen.  

If at 76, the master can create this, I pray he lives for another 76. However knowing the man through his films, I’m not sure he would cherish the idea, but we might as well make hay when the sun is still shining.