Irrational Man review: An intriguing, deeply involving drama from Allen, featuring superb turns from Phoenix and Stone.
Irrational Man review
Woody Allen presents his movie for 2015, a new drama starring Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone entitled Irrational Man. The film revolves around the character of Abe Lucas (Phoenix), a newcomer to a small American town just outside of Providence. A philosophy professor, and at an apparent all-time low emotionally, Abe starts his new position at the town’s local college and immediately forms a relationship with two women; chemistry teacher Rita Richards (Parker Posey), and Stone’s Jill Pollard, one of his own students. While battling against alcoholism and other inner demons, Lucas overhears a conversation in a diner one fateful afternoon, and his actions, which eventually lead to sobriety and inner happiness, trigger a separate chain of events that will affect him, Jill and Rita forever.
Irrational Man review
Not being a huge fan of Woody Allen’s recent movies, it was a huge delight to find that this isn’t your typical Allen movie. A clear departure, a hybrid of films like, and I apologise for slight spoilers, A Perfect Murder, Strangers On A Train, and The Talented Mr. Ripley, the film fuses ideas based on fate and destiny, set against your typical Allen intellectual dialogue and his fascination with philosophy. Phoenix is brilliant, and indeed very visibly bloated in the lead role of Lucas, a troubled individual that seems a perfect role for the actor. He effortlessly assumes the role of the intellectual professor who makes a serious error of judgement that becomes the interesting plot device for the film. While Allen takes his time setting up the film and its three central characters, once we arrive at the pivotal moment of ‘the conversation’ that Lucas and Jill overhear, the story engrosses the viewer until the brilliantly dark ending.
Stone is also excellent in her second Woody Allen film in a row, following on from last year’s Magic In The Moonlight. She portrays Jill as a similarly troubled individual, albeit for very different reasons; a young, brilliant student who seems to have an attraction to unpredictable men on the edge.
Irrational Man review
Supporting the two leads in Parker Posey, a young lecturer with marriage issues who also see’s Lucas as the solution to her own problems at home. Posey is remarkable in a rather unspectacular role as a character who is essential to the progression of the plot, and the ultimate destiny of the two leads. A special mention must also go to James Blackley, the British born actor who plays Jill’s boyfriend Roy; one to watch for the future. An exciting young actor who holds his own.
If Woody Allen were to write and direct a film that could be considered Coens-esque, then this is it. A tightly-paced morality tale with a great scrip and excellent soundtrack, courtesy of the Ramsay Lewis Trio, which seems an odd choice, but fits the dark humour and dramatic theme perfectly.
Irrational Man is not the movie that I expected, but is perhaps one of Allen’s best films for many years, certainly since Midnight In Paris all of the way back in 2011. It’s absolutely amazing to think that Allen has brought a film to the screen every year since 1982. This is certainly in the top ten; a superbly crafted, deeply dark drama.
Irrational Man review by Paul Heath, September 2015.
Irrational Man is released in cinemas in the UK from Friday 11th September 2015.
