Woody Allen: A Documentary - 9 stars out of 10

Woody Allen: A Documentary - 9 stars out of 10

"Woody Allen: A Documentary" is an absolutely comprehensive chronicling this celebrity's life.  The film is incredibly entertaining, not because of the narration or anything that sets it apart from other documentaries, but simply because Woody and all of his movie clips are entertaining by their very nature.  With 200 minutes of footage, the documentary is not as daunting as it might seem, splitting the film into two parts at a logical point in Woody's life so that watching it in two sittings will not disrupt the film's flow.  The documentary tells the story of Woody's personal life from childhood to famous writer, interspercing the important moments of his career into this timeline.  With such a long run-time, the documentary provides a ton of insight into the making of Allen's most famous films, as well as audience reactions and their inability to dictate the author's work.  If there is one thing to take from this film, it is that Woody is an artist that creates films without regard for the audience.  He puts on paper what is in his mind, manifesting his quirky humor and allowing the actors to take liberties with his script to properly develop their characters.  That is what makes his films so amazing and candid.  Some of my favorite parts are the interviews with actors (Scarlett Johannsen, Penelope Cruz) as they recall stories of their interactions with Woody during filming.  Martin Scorsese is featured a lot, creating an interesting perspective of Woody.  The documentary also draws many parallels between the content of his films and his own childhood and adult life.  "Woody Allen: A Documentary" is a must see for all fans of his movies, and I would guess that anybody who is not familiar with his body of work will be adding many of his movies to their Netflix queue as the documentary progresses.  This is simply another reminder of the greatness of Woody Allen's films.