Sweet and Lowdown (Woody Allen, 1999)

To be frank, I can't stand Woody Allen. I don't like his frustrations about him being a Jew, having an ongoing problem with women, his mother's complex etc etc. I know that some artists keep re-inviting themsleves and returning to the same themes but in his case this shit is so ridiculous that it stopped being funny sometime before I was even born.

But for every rule there's an exception that confirms it! When I talk to my friends about Woody Allen, most of them (after endless pointless arguing and argumentation) eventually agree with me (probably just to keep me of their back) but still they usually ask me the same question: "But, surely, at least you do like Zelig or Everything you always wanted to know about sex, don't you?!" And my answer is always the same: "Fuck that, the only Woody Allen movie for me is Sweet and Lowdown!"

To put it in one word, it is simply FUNNY! And what's there not be liked about a depression era period documentary(?) about a drunken, obnoxious, overly-talented (but not as much as Django Reinhardt!!!) jazz guitarist (part time pimp) who takes his dates to a dumpster to shoot rats(!) and exploits his deaf girlfriend? Great jokes and one of the Sean Penn's best performances ever! 

9/10

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles, 2006)

I don't follow popular culture much but I did like Ali G a lot. Bruno's coverage of the nazi-skinhead gig, Vietnam Vet(erinarian) and Ali G's persuasion of cops to use dolphins instead of dogs to detect drugs (since everyone knows they are much smarter) are classics, in my book they are very close to be 21st century variations of Killing Joke or Ministry of silly walking.

But somehow I just wasn't interested enough to check out Borat/Bruno movies when they had came out some years ago. I suspected they would be either too mellow or overly offensive. You know - in the way big studios get cheap publicity by creating some sort of controversy (Scorsese/Gibson biblical crap etc...)

But still I was intrigued enough and couldn't resist when they were showing this on TV. And really liked it - funny, cool and offensive in an intelligent way. Probably shouldn't say this publicly, but antisemitic jokes are the best ones. Stuff with Borat and his manager throwing money at the cockroaches (=shape-shifted Jews) is simply hilarious and had left me speechless and with tears in my eyes. And if you're more into the good old dick jokes, you probably died laughing in a scene where Azamat jerks off on the picture of Borat's beloved Pamela.

Funny stuff, Mr. Cohen got it! I'm definitely checking out Bruno.

8/10