Woody Allen drama Match Point divides critics

Films can be polarising things, and a good recent example of the gulf between opinions is Woody Allen’s 2005 drama Match Point.

Scarlett Johansson with director Woody Allen on the set of Match Point.

Films can be polarising things, and a good recent example of the gulf between opinions is Woody Allen’s 2005 London-set drama Match Point (Saturday, 9.30pm, SBS One).

While the story of a former tennis pro who takes up with his best mate’s girlfriend was praised for its treatment of guilt, morality and luck, Allen had to switch the setting from New York when American funding fell through. And the fit is — in truth — an uncomfortable one; the director’s often strident style doesn’t suit the upper-crust British milieu, and the climactic melodrama is crude and extreme. Nonetheless, Allen was nominated for an original screenplay Oscar, and his career was decisively re-energised.

After last week’s airing of the classic crime drama Godfather II comes the most problematic film in the trilogy, Francis Ford Coppola’s sweeping completion of the Corleone family saga, the 1990 Coppola-described “epilogue” Godfather III (Tuesday, 11.20pm, ABC). Winona Ryder famously backed out of the pivotal role of Mary, Michael Corleone’s daughter, at the last minute, forcing Coppola to cast his daughter Sofia (later the acclaimed director of the dramatic comedy Lost in Translation). Rather than the nepotism some critics charged, it remains a shrewd choice for a filmmaker whose creative life in the 1970s and 80s became more and more intertwined with the Corleone saga.

Those in search of an appreciative update of classic French nouvelle vague (new wave) tropes need look no further than French director-star Valerie Donzelli’s 2012 drama Declaration of War (Wednesday, 12.40am, SBS One). A star-crossed young couple find their passionate bond challenged by their child’s illness. The camera spins and jumps with euphoria, followed by the challenges of being full-time caregivers. The film creates a unique and memorable mood.

Against some long odds in its day, time has been very good to Brighton-born director Jack Clayton’s 1974 Hollywood production of The Great Gatsby (Sunday, 12.20am, ABC). Derided at the time for its woodenness, particularly the performances of Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby and Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan, that very quality, the misinterpreted understatement, is what holds the film in good stead. Coppola himself adapted F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, the costumes and production design are seductive, and the supporting cast includes Bruce Dern, Karen Black, Scott Wilson and Sam Waterston.

After pioneering the zombie genre with Night of the Living Dead in 1968, American writer-director George Romero quietly has continued to make films charting the advance of the undead. Among the pulpier of those is the 2005 Land of the Dead (Saturday, 10.30pm, 7mate), starring Simon Baker. It’s not a great movie but it does have some fun Dennis Hopper overacting.

Land of the Dead (MA15+) 3 stars

Saturday, 10.30pm, 7mate (11.40pm Vic, Tas, SA and WA)

The Godfather Part III (M) 4 stars

Tuesday, 11.20pm, ABC

Declaration of War (M) 3.5 stars

Wednesday, 12.40am, SBS One