Woody's Melindas and Todd's Stories: Complex Film Narratives in the Light of Literary Modernism (Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda) (Todd Solondz's Storytelling) (Critical Essay‪)‬

I. Introduction In his review of Melinda and Melinda (Woody Allen, 2004), Roger Ebert argues, "More than any other film that comes to mind, Melinda and Melinda says, clearly and without compromise, that movies are only movies. They're made up of thin air, the characters are not real, they could turn out however the director wants them to." Another recent film comes to my mind, Todd Solondz's Storytelling (2001). While Solondz and Allen share some obvious affinities--a vicious wit deployed against middle-class hypocrisy--these are not two filmmakers one commonly links together. Allen makes precious films about upper-class Manhattanites, while Solondz saves his misanthropic barbs for the suburbs in New Jersey. And yet, these two films share an interest in the deconstruction of storytelling. Furthermore, to describe what will be the focus of my inquiry, both films are presented through a bifurcated narrative structure in which two sections are held apart in order that they may comment upon each other.