San Sebastian Dispatch. 1.

Two years ago, Lucas Belvaux surprised us with his notable Trilogy - three films involving the same characters and touching on the same basic storyline and approached from the framework of three different genres, the comedy, the thriller and the drama. Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda - its world premiere also opened the San Sebastian Film Festival yesterday - plays a rather similar game. It tells the same story from two one points of view, one tragic, the other comic, and goes even further by juxtaposing the drastically contrasting results instead of reserving an individual film for every mood. The challenge results in a perfect and enchanting jam of two types of films Allen has made before - intimate, sad, Bergman-inspired drama and neurotic romantic comedy. It’s the best Woody Allen in ages and it deserves universal acclaim. Word of mouth.

Posted by dwhudson at September 18, 2004 12:52 PM