Radio Days: And now you know the REST of the story.

It's crazy that that little kid claiming to be a young Woody Allen is, in reality, a young Seth Green. I can see how he moved up in the industry. He's very interesting and expressive. Ron Moore's sentiment that child actors need to be treated like props doesn't apply here. Paired with Woody Allen's warm recollective voice over, there's a definite warmth to the scenes he paints form his supposed childhood. Woody's a good storyteller. Besides the episodes that create Radio Days all having great punchlines, just the affection in his voice for these lost days carries across to us, the audience. Even with better technology, medecine and understanding of our world and universe, Radio Days manages to make the mid-forties seem perfect, in that A Christmas Story, everything has a proper answer sort of way. Life was tidy, even if it really wasn't. But, eventually, it is: when Julie Kavner (Marge doesn't do this actress justice) says "The world would be such an amazing place if it weren't for certain people", she nails it. It's naive, and overly simplistic, but that doesn't mean it's incorrect. Everyday life is completely full of things that amaze and inspire. From an artist's perspective, every second of every day boasts brilliant composition, and emotionally rich moments. Why is it that when we see light, we are struck by it's beauty? Sunsets, the city at night, Christmas trees... it always hits us as amazing. Reality's cup runneth over. Certainly, death and destruction is a part of life, but that's because that's how the universe works, and as sentient life, we have a choice to hurt or to help. Choose love.

Anyway, I loved the character Mia Farrow created for this film, since she's usually very Mia Farrow-ish, and here not as much. Here she was like the gangster's girlfriend in Bullet's Over Broadway, and she did it really well. And seeing Diane Keaton for just a bit was wonderful. Woody's leading ladies sort of orbit one another, but here they passed quite closely, and the Neurotic Jewniverse shook for a minute. Finally, it's Wallace Shawn's little weasel of a voice actor that sticks with me, because of his comment that over enough time, even the biggest stars, and most pivotal moments will fade to nothing. More existentialism from Woody Allen. And he's always right.

Many extra points for a not-yet-famous Larry David.