| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Movie Name | SWEET AND LOWDOWN (1999) |
| Director | Woody Allen |
| Writer | Woody Allen |
| Lead Actor | Woody Allen |
| Cast | Woody Allen, Ben Duncan, Daniel Okrent |
| Genre | Crime, Drama, Music |
| Release Date | March 10, 2000 (United States) |
| Duration | 1h 35m(95 min) |
| Budget | $4.5 million |
| Language | English |
| IMDB Rating | 7.2/10 |
WATCH NOW
SWEET AND LOWDOWN
In paying homage to Fellini’s masterpiece La Strada, Woody Allen makes clever choices and constructs one of his best films. Oddly, given his penchant for theological speculations, he gets almost everything in but Fellini’s major messages about grace and purpose in life.
Woody recreates the brutal low-life Zampano, Fellini’s traveling circus strongman, as a club-touring 1930’s American jazz guitarist who is self-centered but talented. The fictional Emmet Ray is played brilliantly by Oscar nominee Sean Penn. And the sweet-natured mute (Gelsomina, now Hattie), who is in love with him but whom he exploits and abandons, is now a poor Atlantic City laundress. (British actress Samantha Morton was Oscar-nominated.)
Both funny and ironic are Emmet’s boorish habits and lack of feeling, conveyed in the original by Zampano’s gruff ego and gross life-style. Emmet is a sometime pimp whose major enthusiasms are playing pool, shooting rats at the dump and watching trains in the freight yard. Only when he plays music is Emmet in touch with deeper, more beautiful realities.
To get the most joy from Lowdown, and to fully appreciate the funny but sad choice of “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” as the song that most moves Hattie, you probably need to know the Fellini film. But it’s not necessary.
Sure, Woody has chutzpah even to attempt a remake. But some success is better than nothing. It’s a key to his character that the man cannot forsake his affection for a tragic, 50-year old black and white Italian movie with subtitles.
So Woody does us a favor. The final scene, in which Emmet understands and mourns the loss of the love who miraculously came into his life, is heartbreaking. There are fine possibilities here for discussing why one movie is great and deeply Catholic, while another, reflecting just a nudge less of a religious sensibility, is only good.
As always in Woody’s flicks, he can’t forsake the jazz of his youth. The music is marvelous. (Howard Alden plays Emmet’s solos.) Allen is also much funnier than Fellini and just about anyone else. Uma Thurman also contributes nicely as a literate beauty. Clever, funny, lovely in its sadness; essential for Fellini buffs, recommended for mature viewers.
For more movies like SWEET AND LOWDOWN (1999) visit Hurawatch.
Also watch: