Sleeper (1973)

(Traveling through the films of Woody Allen)

Title: Sleeper
Release Date: 17 December 1973
Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070707/
My Rating: (8/10) ★★★★★★★★✩✩


Woody Allen directs Diane Keaton for the first time. She turns in a kooky, high energy performance and, surprisingly, I'd never realized she was such a beauty in her younger years. [Side note, film is a playground for any fantasy you can dream up so why NOT dream up a world in which the lovable loser wins the pretty girl in the end. It's the dream we all have of getting what we want that we feel we miss out on.] I must say I am enjoying this journey through Woody Allen's early films because more than anything it contextualizes his neurotic side. I find him endearing in his younger days, embodying the inept social nitwit that we all must feel is hiding inside of us. I enjoyed this film in particular because as a director he continues to play--doing what he does so well but unafraid to let it live and breathe in a variety of different genres. Here, science fiction.  You have to be a confident director to spoof such a unique genre and nail it masterfully. And knowing that his confident mastery is hidden behind his neurotic persona makes it all a bit more meaningful. I know his films mature in the next few years, and I'm eager to see the growth, but with such a large body of work it's good to know there are at least half a dozen films where all he seemed to care about was making an audience laugh. 

*It's also interesting to note that Joel Schumacher designed the costumes for this film.