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| Jack English |
There may not be a filmmaker more grounded in realism who
also frequently touches on elements of magical realism than Woody Allen. Here
is a man who has a strong philosophical view of life, death, and existence, who
seems resigned to the idea that what you see is what you get and that there is
no deity or afterlife. Here is a man who dabbled in magic tricks as a boy and
who grew up to become one of the late 20th century’s most important
and prolific generators of the greatest magic tricks of all – motion pictures.
For what are the movies but an illusion? Not only are the stories told
fictional tales through which we, the audience, have a chance to live out
fantasy wish fulfillment, but the physical process of film projection is a
series of still photographs presented in such rapid succession that it gives
the illusion of movement.
