On November 30th Woody Allen turns 90 and, for the occasion. Gremese Editore publishes a work that presents itself as the most complete homage ever made in Italy to the great New York filmmaker: “Tutto Woody Allen”, a volume written by Enrico Giacovelli with contributions by Roberto Chiesi, Giampiero Frasca, Diego Gabutti, Patrice Lajus, Jean-Max Méjean, Barbara Rossi, Piero Spila and Simone Tarditi.
Halfway between a dictionary and a critical essay, but conceived as a book to be read with pleasure and continuity, All Woody Allen – subtitle: Films, books, theatre, television, declarations, jokes, life (and everything else) – does not limit itself to listing films and curiosities: it tells them, relates them, observes them from different perspectives. It is a vast journey into the creative universe of an author who, having started with the idea of becoming “a new Tennessee Williams”, has become – in the words of the curator himself – “much more: a new Chaplin, a new Molière”.
Books about Allen, as well as those written by himself, have certainly not been lacking over the decades. But this new publication represents an absolute novelty in terms of breadth, variety and rigor. The volume explores not only all cinematographic production – from masterpieces to lesser-known experiments – but also books, theatrical comedies, TV appearances, commercials, and many collateral elements that help to understand Allen’s gaze on the world. They range from recurring cultural references (Groucho Marx, Ingmar Bergman, psychoanalysis, jazz, New York) to more eccentric but equally revealing details, such as the lookalikes of the young Woody, roller coasters, rain, or the famous list of “things worth living for”, contained in Manhattan, commented here with irony and affection. (continued)
The volume is a summation of the variegated Allenian world
Giacovelli constructs a lucid work, rich in information and references, capable of combining the accuracy of the encyclopedic dictionary with the lightness of popular narration. It is a book that delves into, contextualizes, dismantles and reassembles a creative universe of our time.
The array of materials in the appendix is another of the great riches of the volume. Collected here are Allen’s most famous phrases, a complete list of the soundtracks used in his films, and well over 500 lines and dialogues taken from cinematographic, theatrical, literary works and live performances. The real novelty is that for the first time these texts are presented in literal translation from the American originals, offering Italian readers a new, more authentic reading of Allen’s thought, often sacrificed in dubbed or adapted versions.
With “All about Woody Allen” Giacovelli – historian and film critic with long experience – signs one of his most ambitious works: an intellectual and emotional tribute to an author who has crossed – and often redefined – cinema, theatre, literature, music and comedy. At just ninety years old, Allen remains a central figure in contemporary culture and this book restores his complexity: ironic, melancholy, brilliant, contradictory, profoundly human. The volume is now available in bookstores and online stores.