Woody tackles film noir

Like him or not, Woody Allen is a brilliant filmmaker who has had a long-standing career. Sure, as an actor, he is rambling, neurotic and would probably annoy even himself. But he does know when to put himself in front of the camera and when his genius is best served behind the lens. \n"Match Point," Allen's take on film noir set in present day Great Britain, is the perfect reminder of this. While the film was nearly shut out in the recently released Academy Award nominations, Woody Allen did garner a well-deserved nod for best original screenplay. \nOn the surface, "Match Point" is a story of a man's duplicity and infidelity, but the power of luck is the underlying theme of the film. Chris Wilton (Rhys Myers), a former tennis pro, says at the start of the film that he would rather be born lucky than good. He uses tennis as a metaphor for his philosophy: when a ball hits the top of the net, it can fall on either side of the net, and which ever way it falls can be the difference between a win and a loss. \nIf a few balls had bounced Chris' way, he may not have chosen to give up life in professional tennis. But after doing so, he finds a job teaching tennis to posh upperclass Brits at a wealthy country club. There he meets Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode). Tom introduces Chris to his wealthy family and Chris soon falls for Tom's sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer). Chris sees this potential union as a chance for him to enjoy the good life that tennis was never able to afford him, so he starts to date and eventually weds Chloe. Not long after, he meets beautiful Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson), Tom's fiancée. After this, the ball changes courts. \nChris' competitive nature leads to his pursuit of Nola, which leads to an affair, which leads to Chris telling lie after lie in order to have everything he wants. In the end, luck is what will make or break Chris' fate.\n"Match Point" is an interesting film because it is an in-depth portrait of evil characters. Everyone has selfish motivations, and it is fascinating to watch how the characters use their strengths to get what they want. The dialogue is also excellent, and it is clear that Allen had fun writing from the perspective of an excessively polite Brit. Furthermore, the film is very intense, as low bass hums intermittently sound in order to accent moments of apprehension and guilt. \nThis film certainly should rank among Woody Allen's best. It makes one want to try and predict what will go wrong next, only to find out that the story is much too clever for the obvious plot twists. Good luck trying to figure this one out.