Aspies For Freedom

Woody Allen's 'Melinda and Melinda" got two thumbs up from Ebert and Roeper but is not getting same from audiences. However, if you are curious about who will play the alter-ego of my wife in "my" movie, you will see her, Radha Mitchell, in this film's title role.

        I like the movie because it is good therapy. I am an ex New Yorker with many friends still there. Add to that a current activity; planning a high school reunion in NY for summer of 2006.  It is hard to avoid sometimes wondering if I should have left. But I can thank Woody Allen, who consistently gathers brilliant examples of the people I left NYC to avoid and makes a movie out of them!!

        Why I left? It's the unbearable cynicism and the  narcissism of people like Woody Allen, who believe that if you aren't one of his peers or some token minstrel conveniently inserted into the script to entertain them or be balled by the lead character, you don't count. I lived in NY and was in NYC long enough to wonder how Woody Allen can know so much about part of that city and blow off most of it as he continues to do.

         And the dialogue is absolutely ridiculous at times.  But NYC is still a great place to visit. This movie is fun as long as you know you don't have to live in the place you are watching. And if you do live there, it may remind you of places to avoid. Plus this: Rahda Mitchell/aka Melinda is almost a dead ringer for Mary when I met her.

     But Woody's fan club dies hard. I think his best next subject should be: "How to seduce your fifteen year old step-daughter: a primer in social violation by a closet aspie."  On that at least, he could qualify with expertise.

                                           Jerry Newport

I love his work, his personal life stinks.

I liked Radha Mitchell in Pitch Black.  She did a fine job of acting scared but tough.  (I even wrote a fanfic about her character.)   :smile:

        I find Radha to be an enigma. She is a very nice, intense person to know but despite a lot of good jobs in various movies, the critics hardly ever notice her work. Typically, this present movie gets good reviews but she is hardly mentioned. She got good marks in "High Art."

      I think she is good in this one but she seems to hold something back, as opposed to Nicole Kidman, who just seems to be emotional whipped cream that thrusts herself onto the canvass of every movie. I have yet to see Radha really let go but she is still growing.

        I agree with the comment about Woody's work vs. his life. His movies are great but  he is definitely the kind of person that I left NYC to avoid!

                                           Jerry Newport