Day 55 - Irrational Man


Day 55              Irrational Man [2015]
                          
Screenplay                    Woody Allen
Director                         Woody Allen
Cinematography             Darius Khondji
Music                            Woody Allen?
Leads                            Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Parker Posey
Production                     Gravier Productions, Perdido Productions

IMDb                                6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes                46%

The start of a bad run of films for the blog? A real dud of a film from such a famous director. It’s about an alcoholic philosophy professor, Abe Lucas (Phoenix), who is going through an existential crisis and takes a job at a small ivy-league college. His reputation precedes him as a maverick teacher with a history of affairs with students and colleagues alike. One of his students, Jill (Stone), falls in love with him which he resists at first. However, after overhearing a woman in a diner talking about a corrupt judge he plots to murder said judge in order to find meaning in his own life. Abe and Jill then fall in love until Jill works out that Abe succeeded in murdering the judge and forces him to own up to his crime. Abe cannot do it so instead attempts to murder Jill but meets an untimely end. It felt like a three-hour film condensed into an hour and a half, I really wanted to get to know the characters more. There were flashes of Abe’s philosophy on life, but it came in the form of basic A-level philosophy, it was shallow and really didn’t give us much insight into Abe’s true feelings. I love Phoenix, and he wasn’t bad, but his character could have been so much more interesting. For example, there is a scene where he plays Russian roulette with himself at a party. This was our only glimpse into his crazy mind. Stone and Parker Posey were also good. Posey played another college professor who had an affair with Abe before Jill and wanted to run away with him to Spain. I haven’t watched many of Allen’s film, and I know there are far better ones out there, but this was not a good representation of his work by any means.

Acting                           2.5 / 4
Writing                          1.5 / 4
Cinematography               2 / 4
Music                            1.5 / 4

HWF rating              1.5 / 4