Blue Jasmine

I think this is a very good movie, but I’m not really sure. These days it’s tough to tell if Woody Allen is achieving something subtly brilliant, or if he’s just wasting our time with nonsense. I suspect the former here, but I’d be willing to listen to arguments for the latter. This film comes across, beginning from the first scene, as an almost clinical examination of a maximally unlikeable character, set (in flashbacks, at least) in the typical Allen setting of the insular world of New York’s extremely rich, with occasional sojourns into working-class San Francisco. The setting and story make you think that some overarching political statement is being made here...but maybe not. It’s really opaque, and hard to tell what the director really thinks of these people, or even if his main character finally gets the comeuppance she deserves. (The ending is so open-ended that anything thereafter is possible). So it’s hard to say about this movie--yet, I’ve already written a long paragraph about it, and am still thinking about it, so it’s a movie that certainly makes an impression, probably through the excellent performances if nothing else. Watch it and judge for yourself.