Gerald Sim Interview: Part II

Gerald Sim is a graduate student in film studies at the University of Iowa and an instructor who has previously taught a course on the films of Woody Allen. Below is the transcript of Part II of our interview with him, which we had intended to play during last week's podcast.

AK: The problem a lot of us Woody Allen fans have lately is that we're consistently disappointed by his films. His recent movies don't match the quality of his older work. A.O. Scott suggested in the New York Times a few weeks back that perhaps this dissatisfaction is "our problem," not his. What do you think of this theory, and how do you approach a new Woody Allen film?

GS: Well, I think it's more or less an objective fact that his past few movies are just not up to snuff – they’re not as narratively tight; they’re not as funny. It's not because he’s trying to do something different. It's not about him doing "Interiors," for example. He’s obviously trying to make a certain kind of movie that I guess he kind of used to make, but these aren’t as good. You can’t get away from that. Having said that, some people maybe have just forgotten or don’t know what the earlier movies are. For younger moviegoers, "Annie Hall" is a relic, right? Another reason is that some people can't disassociate his films from his screen persona. So whatever opinions they might have about him bleed into their view of his films.

SH: That leads nicely into our last question, which is how you think his contributions to film will be measured historically?

GS: It would have to stop at least halfway through his career unless he starts getting over this funk that he's in. It would be his contribution to acting, and how he gets actresses the roles of their lives –- how he writes for them, how he directs them, which is very minimalist. He doesn't really direct, and some would say that’s how he transfers his neuroticism onto them, by not really telling them anything ... His screenwriting, and when you talk about his screenwriting, you can't separate that from his comedy. As a comedian, he's as important as a filmmaker and director.

AK: I always have to remind people that while his films aren't that successful, he was tremendously popular as a comedian and TV personality in the 60s and 70s. He guest hosted The Tonight Show and definitely could have been considered mainstream.

GS: Yeah, but you've got to remember that this is the same American film audience that would line up to see Truffaut. And this is the same sort of film culture that would value his comedies, so they put them on the same sort of plain. That film culture has changed -- has maybe disappeared. If you talk about Jewish comedians, you cannot leave out Woody Allen. Jerry Seinfeld is really Woody Allen-light, in a lot of ways.

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