Whatever Works

Evan Rachel Wood, Henry Cavill and Woody Allen in ‘Whatever Works’

The ever prolific Woody Allen is back with a new film, ‘Whatever Works’, starring Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood.

‘Whatever Works’ tells New Yorker Boris Yellnikoff’s story, a retired physics professor and all round grouch who decides to abandon his privileged upper-class life to lead a more bohemian existence. He rents a down-town apartment and spends most of his days complacently discussing and complaining about women, life and the universe over lattes in cafes. He is very much in his comfort zone when one day he discovers an attractive but homeless young woman huddled in a blanket just outside his apartment. He takes her inside, offering her shelter for the night. Little does he know that this woman from the deep South, come to the Big Apple to make something of her life, will turn his head and heart around.

Woody’s latest is, by no stretch of the imagination, a new story, in fact the attractive, bright young woman giving a new lease of life to an elderly, battle scarred man is as old as the hills, however it works because it is told with plenty of heart and colour. And this is one Woody Allen movie with a message. In life, do whatever works for you, no matter how silly or left-field it might appear to be, as long as it doesn’t harm any-one.

This is the attitude by which the characters in ‘Whatever Works’ live, and it creates a rich source of comedy. My pick of the performances was Patricia Clarkson as the young woman’s mother. She had quite a journey from being a conservative, middle-aged woman from the South to a bohemian woman having an artistic career and living in a menage a trois with two men!

‘Whatever Works’ begins and ends with Larry David as Boris addressing the camera as confidant and audience. It’s a technique that Woody has used a lot going back as far as his ‘Annie Hall’ days, and it still works a treat. Shakespeare used the technique- of soliloquy- so well in the theatre, and Woody continues to show its effectiveness in the cinematic form.