Here is the famous filmmaker-actor-comedian in a forthright documentary of his touring jazz-band. It's not really his band – but for all intents and purposes it may as well be. If it weren't for Woody this band would just be another New Orleans jazz style band. They certainly wouldn't fill any concert halls across Europe (in fact they wouldn't be there at all).We see a lot of Woody and Soon Yi in candid conversations – many of them in lavish hotel rooms in Europe (I am not kidding – one has a private swimming pool!). There is a sequence at the end with Woody's parents' in Brooklyn – this is hilarious and looks like it is straight out of one of his films. I have to admit that Woody is quite gracious with his fans who obviously adore him. If you're a fan in any way this is recommended, its' Woody as cinema verite. The only complaint I have is too many performances of the jazz-band.

I don't know how I missed this film when it was released. It's thoroughly enjoyable on at least two levels: the New Orleans jazz and Allen's comic gifts. There's a third level -- the European scenery. It's interesting as a travelogue, if a bit jerky, which is realistic considering the jumping from one city to the next in so short a time. But the thing that stays with me the most is the high quality of Allen's trenchant observations on the passing parade, on mundane matters, such as his thoughts on the note he composes for inclusion in his hotel laundry. I am not a fan of the slick, glib one-liners Allen became known for early in his career, but in this film we have a more mature person, a man who obviously cherishes the relationship with Soon Yi and who respects his parents after life has smoothed the edges of his angst and has enabled him, it seems, to gain deeper insights into the passing parade.

Wild Man Blues (named after a terrific Louis Armstrong song) shows Woody Allen during his trip to Europe and abroad for a tour with his Jazz band. So the question you might be asking is, how much is shown? How candid does filmmaker Barbara Kopple go into the behind-the-scenes and off-the-stage stuff in the film? One could say not enough, but then how personal can one get with a cinematic heavyweight like Allen? True, it's not always just him that carries the interest in the film; his New Orleans Jazz band (the same, more or less, that gave that hilariously cool score for his film Sleeper) is toe-tapping fun, especially if you like this sort of music (I got into it a little more after watching the Ken Burns documentary), with Eddie Davis the banjo player and director of the group a real treat. It may be odd to say, but despite Woody's talent at the clarinet, it sometimes doesn't bring as much attention for one as does the 'talky' scenes.And some of these, of course, have the young Soon-Yi Prevlin in tow. This was of course a few years after the whole hoopla went over about the break-up and all. It's curious to see how their relationship goes in the film, what is and what isn't shown, and this is I think when Kopple gets the most personal, even if it's a little uncomfortably so. Indeed, this is an Allen that is not really like the one he portrays in film after film- it does have the moments of humor, and his neuroses are in full view of the lens. But by giving it this extra view, it shows him as much more of a relatable person, or maybe not (the film does show him in Europe as being far more celebrity-like than here). In all, it works best as an objective view of the subject matter, of a director who also happens to be a good musician who enjoys playing what he calls "crude...esoteric music" of old. It is, at least for the Woody admirer, entirely watchable.

A suspiciously pleasant portrayal is made of Allen in this documentary, which has absolutely nothing to say aside from "Woody Allen can play the clarinet fairly well" and "He also can crack wise." A very select collection of interviews try to establish him as still having a significant fan base, but there's a reason his movies don't do to well these days.Coming from the extremely skilled and seemingly quite compassionate Oscar-winner Barbara Kopple, maker of such credits to the documentary medium as HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A., this is an extreme disappointment, and I have to wonder how she decided to waste her time on this.