In an interview in The New York Times, Joffe said, "When I walked out of the first screening, I found myself questioning everything. The New Yorker's Pauline Kael called the film "a horrible betrayal.a whiff of nostalgia gone bad," while Andrew Sarris of The Village Voice thought the film seemed "to have been shaped by a masochistic desire to alienate Allen's admirers once and for all." Even Charles Joffe, Allen's steadfast executive producer on most of his films, had his doubts. Though the director has denied it, many critics felt Allen was using this film to express his disgust with his audience, the critics, and the film industry in general. However, it is entirely speculative whether Sandy Bates is really an alter ego for Woody Allen. There's no denying that Stardust Memories paints a bleak picture of Bates' profession with its stark black-and-white cinematography by Gordon Willis and a gallery of grotesque characters who wouldn't be out of place in a Diane Arbus photograph or a Hogarth painting. And he is further incensed by the studio suits who want him to make funny movies when all he sees is human suffering everywhere. Sandy no longer finds any personal satisfaction in his achievements or in his current relationships. Obviously influenced by Fellini's 8 1/2 (1963), Stardust Memorie follows a prominent filmmaker named Sandy Bates to a weekend movie seminar at the Stardust Hotel in New Jersey where he is besieged by adoring fans and sycophants. ![]() ![]() The true acid test for any fan or critic who loves Woody Allen movies is Stardust Memories (1980), his misunderstood and generally maligned ninth feature.
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