Judging from not liking it very much on first viewing(not been used to how the characters were written and being exhausted after a hard week being the biggest reasons) and that there are people who judge it as one of Woody Allen's worst, re-watching it could have gone either way. In debating if September is one of Allen's worst or his worst, on first viewing I would have said yes but re-watching it while nowhere near one of his best it is not that bad. It's not perfect, it does drag a bit with some dialogue that rambles and the ending is very abrupt. And two performances personally didn't quite come off well, Mia Farrow is very shrill here(even for a character as tormented as she was) and it did grate and Sam Waterson is unusually wooden. However, the rest of the acting is great, especially from Elaine Stritch who gives a poignant performance that did have me weeping. Jack Warden has one of the more interesting subsidiary characters and has fun with it, Denholm Elliot is at his most subtle and sympathetic and Dianne Wiest while not as good as she was in Hannah and Her Sisters(which is one of the greatest performances in a Woody Allen film) is fine as well. Allen directs as adroitly as ever, despite being relatively different thematically dialogue, characters and influences wise Allen's style is still unmistakable. The dialogue has some rambling moments but much of it is incredibly intelligent and thought-provoking as well as truthful in a way that is painful as it is heart-breaking. The characters are not easy to like and are purposefully neurotic but the compellingly realistic way they're written and the situations they go through makes you identify with them too and you feel as if you're there and part of the drama. You will be emotionally exhausted by the story afterwards too, and the story itself draws you in with its themes and its characters and rarely lets go. The Bergman and Chekhov influences are very clear but not blatant. September benefits also from being wonderfully shot, it looks beautiful and stylish and reflects Autumn very well, and from having an evocatively orchestrated and beautifully written music score(one of my personal favourites from a Woody Allen film actually). To conclude, imperfect but a pretty good film, and I take back what I said about it at the end of my The Curse of the Jade Scorpion review, in all fairness it was acknowledged that things could change on re-watch. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Review of September
