A Look at Woody Allen and Separating the Art and the Artist

Woody Allen

While my main goal on this blog is to not get too political, it's hard sometimes to avoid discussing certain things. If you're anyone who follows the media circuit, you'll know that this was a big day for Woody Allen. For starters, his new film Cafe Society opened Cannes. However, it was overshadowed by a variety of events including Ronan Farrow's excellent piece regarding the media's handling of Allen's own molestation charges. This has raised the obvious statement, and one when pieced together with a recent interview that suggested that he saved his wife and adopted daughter (the same person) Soon-Yi from misery, is that he's a creepy pervert. Here's my opinion: I acknowledge that all of this really does it make more conflicting for me to like his work, but it's also harder to not admit that I still like his work. It's time that I discuss the unfortunate deed of separating the artist from the artist.

My Top 10 Favorite Woody Allen Movies

Left to right: Woody Allen and Meryl Streep in Manhattan

Love him or hate him (I'm more in the former camp), Woody Allen has remained one of the most prolific and distinguished directors in American comedy. From his earliest days writing for Your Show of Shows to his later successes with films such as Annie Hall and Manhattan, he has made an enviable career with a film-a-year schedule that means that he has more misses, but his hits aren't without mention. Today marks the multi-hyphenate artist's 80th birthday, and with that, I am going to share my personal Top 10 favorites. Keep in mind that while I have seen 24 of his films, that's only half of his impressive total - meaning that I likely haven't seen all of the greats. If I'm missing one that's more obscure, please feel free to reference it in the comments section.