SHADOWS AND FOG
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Beautifully filmed and intriguing tribute to German Expressionism and in general the Central European sensibility between the World Wars. The story and the director's intentions are never better than vague. Rating: high 0 (-4 to +4).
Out in the fog a killer--a tall bald man in a long frock coat reminiscent of Orlok in NOSFERATU--is strangling people. A deputation of vigilantes drags Kleinman (played by Woody Allen) from his bed. He must fulfill an important role in their plot to catch the killer, but there is no time to explain to Kleinman what his role is to be. To prove his support he must go out into the fog and perform an unexplained but dangerous function to catch the killer. There he meets a beautiful sword swallower (played by Mia Farrow) who is married to a thoroughly unpleasant clown (played by John Malkovich).
With the dissonances of Kurt Weill's music under the credits, Woody Allen opens SHADOWS AND FOG, his tribute to Central European culture and mindset between the two World Wars. The unwary viewer might expect this film to do to German and Czech culture what Allen's LOVE AND DEATH did to Russian culture. To a large extent, that is what Allen is doing, playing his poor schnook character in the middle of a cultural milieu and making it look silly. We have the allusions to film and to literature. Here there is a scene inspired by NOSFERATU or M. There there is Kafka-esque situation or some characters out of Brecht. As a character drops into a saloon, the soundtrack plays Weill's "Show Me the Way to the Next Whiskey Bar." But in LOVE AND DEATH the point of it all was good-natured and fun. There is fun in SHADOWS AND FOG, a carrot to the lovers of Allen's earlier films, but the point of this bleaker film is introspection and abstract philosophy. It also can be read as an elliptical allegory about anti-Semitism. Its main character, a little Jew named Kleinman, wanders in the fog caught up in circumstances darker and more complex than he can understand. And where he goes there are allusions to medieval accusations against Jews as well- poisoners. And there are allusions to the Holocaust to come as he is betrayed and sold by the Church, or told be a one-time fiancee to "Get out there and die." All this to music by a Jewish Kurt Weill in situations originally created by the Jews Fritz Lang and Franz Kafka. SHADOWS AND FOG is certainly a black followup to LOVE AND DEATH.
It has been suggested that SHADOWS AND FOG is purely an exercise in using the photographic conventions of German Expressionist and horror films. Certainly the photography is the film's strongest suit. Scene after scene is visually striking, even if the action of the scene is not so striking. The film is top-heavy with major actors, many of whom have only cameos. In the search for faces you will find Madonna, Donald Pleasence, Lily Tomlin, Jodie Foster, Kathy bates, John Cusack, Kate Nelligan, Fred Gwynne, Julie Kavner, Kenneth Mars, David Ogden Stiers, and Wallace Shawn. the film is short and there really is not enough time for seventeen major actors. Clearly there are lots of actors willing to settle for tiny roles in a Woody Allen film and Allen is willing to create a role for any recognizable name. In this case this cast has only gotten itself roles in a rather vague and elliptical allegory. I rate SHADOWS AND FOG a high 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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