Shadows And Fog Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

Was this meant to be a Bergman tribute?

I like Woody Allen, and I like Ingmar Bergman, but Woody trying to spoof Ingmar??? Didn't work for me - felt sorry for John Malkovitch having to deliver lines as bad as that. Mia Farrow is a pill as usual and I have no idea what John Cusack was thinking of! 2 good things in it - the famous actresses as tarts and the well poisoning joke - otherwise (as its against my principles to bail out in the middle) I just couldn't help wishing it would end so I could go and do something more interesting.

The point of Woody's folly gets lost in the fog

It's hard to know what Woody Allen was trying to achieve with 'Shadows and Fog'. The script is so thin, the tone so unsure and a stellar cast so completely wasted, it seems this project was only of interest as a technical exercise for Allen.

Allen plays his usual neurotic self, here named Kleinman. He's awoken in the night by a group of vigilantes who are out to catch the killer who's stalking the streets. They insist he go out and play his part, but neglect to mention what part he's meant to play. He spends the night wandering the mist-laden streets, encountering some strange characters.

'Shadows and Fog' is an appopriate title, as that's exactly what you get. Allen and his regular cinematographer Carlo Di Palma create a gorgeous homage to the expressionist films of Murnau, Lang and Dreyer, while also spoofing the works of Kafka. But that's where any interest ends.

Allen has a number of different storylines running here, and he fails to develop any of them coherently or to any sort of point. The cast is large and varied but few of them get any discernable character to work with and Allen is through with most of them in two or three scenes.

Mia Farrow, John Cusack and John Malkovich our among those who get the better end of the deal, but the likes of Lily Tomlin, Donald Pleasance, Jodie Foster and Madonna are lumbered with blink-and-you'll-miss-it roles.

Allen films usually have something to recommend them, but in 'Shadows and Fog' there's really just the handsome cinematography and nothing else. It only runs for just over 80 minutes, but feels a lot longer. Allen has made a couple of bad films in his time, but seldom has he made one so tedious.