The film of the week this time is THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO.

The Purple Rose of Cairo is one of Woody Allen's best films. He is one of those directors who has made so many films that there are a few I sometimes forget he made. I have gotten to the point with his films where I prefer him to not be in them. Nothing against him, but there's only a certain amount of neurotic behavoir I can take before that persona starts to become grating. I don't mind if he narrates his films like Radio Days which he wasn't in but he did the narration. Purple rose was apparently one of the only films of his that he felt satisfied by the end result. It is about a young woman who lives during the great depression. She is played brilliantly by Mia Farrow. Her character is naive and lives with a oafish husband played by Danny Aiello. Her only sollace in life is the local cineme where she goes to forget about her crappy life.

One day she see's a film called the Purple Rose of Cairo that she falls in love with. She goes to see it so often that one of the characters in the film, Tom Baxter, looks at her and comments on how many times he see's her. Baxter then leaves the big screen and runs out of the theater with her while the other characters on screen look on in bewilderment. This is a very clever and sweet film with a fantastic performance by Jeff Daniels as Baxter. I won't spoil how the plot ends up because it has a couple of surprises, especially later on. It is a tad aimless at times but other than that I loved it.