Reviewed by: Jesse Knight
Rated:
Directed by: Van Flesher
Starring: Gary Lundy, Sara Downing, Kim Murphy Zandell

If to stand the test of time means for a romantic comedy to celebrate relationships while simultaneously denouncing them, then Burning Annie, a new digitally-shot independent feature awaiting distribution, will out live all of the happily-ever-after fluff shoved our way.  But then again, what can be expected from the illegitimate offspring of Woody Allen’s masterpiece of nervous and woebegone romance?

Woody’s 1977 film, Annie Hall, is the heroin to student and college radio talk show host Max (played by Gary “Go back to China, bitch” Lundy of Donnie Darko) and may very well be the downfall of his search for love and happiness in a lasting relationship.  Having grown up on the film because of his equally obsessed parents, he quickly becomes dependent, even dragging his roommates and girlfriends along for the addiction.  Not until Max’s roommate and best friend Charles (scene stealer Brian “Velma was a hip, hip lady” Klugman from Can’t Hardly Wait) enforces a strict no-Annie Hall diet, does Max meet Julie, a siren worthy of liberating him the cynical pessimism he only knows when it comes to having a girlfriend. 

Max is even more distressed by Annie Hall than he could ever know, it seems, when he realizes the only reason he likes Julie (a wonderfully charming Sara Downing) is that she reminds him of the Diane Keaton character, when the truth – and the joke – is that they don’t resemble each other at all.  Max’s excuse for liking Julie is to compare her to the one woman he knows better than any one.  The most awkward and embarrassing moment for Max is while riding along in Julie’s car, crouched and hollering fearfully while she cruises safely down an empty street, as if she actually drives as dangerously as Annie herself.  Max’s desperation to relive the driving scene in his favorite movie is this film’s equivalent to Alvy Singer reenacting the loose lobster escapade with a disenchanted date after his breakup with Annie in Annie Hall, perhaps the most pathetically sad scene ever filmed.

 In the script by Zack Ordynans and an uncredited Randy Mack, serving also as the film’s producer, the parallels to Annie Hall are either testimonial or essential to the character of Max, who has molded his persona to fit the shape of the perfectly flawless man embodied by Woody’s character, Alvy.  His name is even Max, the name Tony Robert’s character calls Alvy throughout Annie Hall because he finds it better suits him.  Fortunately, Lundy refuses to make Max an impersonation of Woody, and voids him of stammered words and the nervous fidgeting.  He instead speaks as if rather sure of himself, albeit nearly every bit of his dialogue is some witty quip or sardonic rejoinder, which is in itself a tribute to Annie Hall.  The film’s monstrous soundtrack even features the “sludgecore” band A Place of Solace under the pseudonym ‘Anhedonia,’ which means the inability to experience pleasure, and more notably, the original working title for Annie Hall. 

First time director Van Flesher and cinematographer Stephen Schultze have an exquisite eye for visual bravura, and lets Burning Annie flow with unconventional scene constructions and bright, painterly images (shot on 24p High-Definition HD-cam digital media, using the George Lucas/Lucasfilm Sony CineAlta camera) likely to make Woody proud.  For example, when Max recounts the first time he and his friends watched Annie Hall, he indicates an ex-girlfriend in the mix and mentions her absence during the actual past event.  When they finish watching, the ex-girlfriend rises and the camera follows her, revealing an open ceiling replaced by hanging lights and assorted equipment.  She is brutally honest as she breaks up with Max, stating, “This is a fantasy extrapolated from a flashback.  How could I lie to you?”  She exits, and Max acknowledges us, “I’m the only guy I know who gets rejected in his own fantasies.”  A fact likely for any or all of Woody’s alter egos. 

But Burning Annie doesn’t just end with Woody Allen.  Max and Sam (Jay Paulson) have a conversation during a game of Nintendo hockey that is the most acutely observed and spot-on definition of the influence of film on today’s generation, and rightfully warrants the tagline “Life imitating art imitating life imitating art.”  Ordynans, Mack, and Flesher are fully aware of their inspirations, and are not afraid to address them directly, which is an endearing and rare labor of love when done this honestly. 

A dream cast for an independent comedy, Burning Annie sparkles with prominently familiar faces that have, until now, popped up for a scene or two and walked away with the entire show.  Among them is Rini Bell, the halo-wearing, alcoholic teenager who gives an inspirational speech at graduation in Ghost World; Downing, who hurled eggs at Drew Barrymore in Never Been Kissed; the alluring Kim Murphy Zandell, who soars as Max’s close friend/ex-girlfriend Beth, has appeared in TV’s 24; and maybe the most famous, Todd Duffey, the toothy, flair-sporting Chotchkie’s waiter from Mike Judge’s Office Space. 

Woody’s original intention while writing Annie Hall was to make a film where everyone speaks in jokes, like a comedian’s stand-up act spread around in different voices.  Ordynans and Mack have written a film of that caliber; relentlessly funny from fade to fade, without a false note in between.  The film’s humor is rooted in its honesty, and not in a cheap attempt at comedy, which in turn allows us to laugh even harder.     

Most admirable is that Ordynans and Flesher did not seek out to re-envision Woody Allen’s masterpiece for a more youthful crowd – that would be unspeakable – but the deeper we delve into Burning Annie, the groundwork built by Annie Hall begins to break away, and left standing tall is a riotous, whip-smart film that impressively earns its status as a next generation’s cinematic bible for relationships.

It’s pure anhedonic wonderment.  Revel in it.

Burning Annie is currently rounding the festival circuit.  All the information you need can be found at http://www.burningannie.com

Check this spot for upcoming interviews with the cast and crew of Burning Annie.