Woody Allen doing a takeoff on F.W. Murnau and the German Expressionists in general, with shades of the "white" horror of Dreyer's Vampyr, plus his more customary dashes of Bergman (a travelling circus with a Swedish-accented magician). The black-and-white photography by Carlo di Palma is highly (if also drily, academically, secondhandedly) evocative. But those who can appreciate the streetlights-in-the-fog iconography might not appreciate the Woodyisms that litter the landscape. (In the doctor's office, overlooking the autopsy table: "I must remember, next time I go out to a restaurant, not to order the sweetbreads.") The all-star cast -- Jodie Foster, Kathy Bates, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Madonna, Lily Tomlin, and of course Mia Farrow -- is a constant distraction (Malkovich most of all); and the cinematic in-jokes (Donald Pleasence, star of Polanski's Cul-de-Sac, is cornered under a sign reading "Cul-de-Sac") add no mirth even if you get them. (1992) — Duncan Shepherd
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