Match Point

For reasons I won't get into, I took a new look at Match Point, the 2005 drama from Woody Allen, about a tennis-player turned sugar-baby who murders his mistress.

Some interesting facts:

1. The film was low budget yet commercially successful.
2. It broke a strong of box office flops for Woody Allen.
3. Allen says it's arguably the best film he's made.
4. The film was critically successful, getting an Oscar nomination for Best Original script and several Golden Globe nominations.
5. The cast included mostly little known actors, with only Scarlett Johansson as a relatively well-known face.
6. The story references elevated themes like nihilism and fate, as well as classical authors like Stendhal, Theodore Dreiser and Dostoyevsky. So, those who say Hollywood doesn't produce art, here's your riposte.

Isn't this film what so many writers claim to aspire to? A low-budget, high quality, critically and commercially SUCCESSFUL film that doesn't rely on A-list stars or big bang special effects?