What a Mess. I like Jean-Luc Goddard and I like Woody Allen, but “Meetin’ WA” is a video film gone wrong. Goddard made it after he had already determined to drop any pretence of a narrative in cinema. He took an interview he did with Woody and apparently let a 14 year old do the editing. (Random images flash in and out; sentences are cut off in the middle of words; dissolves and fades and slow motion is used like its going out of style.)

The viewer doesn’t get any insight into the film making process. Woody discussed how his idea starts out perfect and ends up a mess by the time the final product is complete. In addition to being a little disingenuous, I think its a slap in the face to his collaborators who have apparently helped turn a perfect idea into trash. Woody somewhat strangely keeps looking back and forth between Goddard and the translator. Strangely, Goddard also spends a lot of time trying to get Woody to make an analogy between television viewing and radiation poisoning.

You can view the movie at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xg1hk_meetin-wa-1986 if you’re interested.