Radio Days

Year of Release:  1987
Director:  Woody Allen
Screenplay:  Woody Allen
Starring:  Seth Green, Mia Farrow, Julie Kavner, Danny Aiello, Michael Tucker, Dianne Wiest, Tony Roberts, Jeff Daniels, Woody Allen

This is a funny, heart-warming, nostalgic take on the Golden Age of radio.  There is not really a plot as such, more a series of anecdotes and episodes revolving around life in a large Jewish-American family living in the Rockaway Beach area of New York City during the 1940s, as seen through the eyes of ten year old Joe (Green, with Allen narrating as the adult Joe), and all linked by the always present radio.  Intermixed with these episodes are tales of the radio stars themselves.

This is one of Woody Allen's finest films.  It is very funny and sometimes genuinely moving.  The film features a large cast of characters and a very ambitious structure.  Allen manages to interweave the many storylines perfectly so that it does feel like a cohesive whole, and none of the cast strike a wrong note.  The period atmosphere is evocatively depicted.

Allen has stated that the film is in many places autobiographical and there is a real bittersweet quality, and nostalgic yearning for a long-gone age.  The soundtrack of period songs is fantastic.