Carlo Di Palma was hardly Woody Allen's best cinematographer and he's a definite liability considering Shadows and Fog is so much about composition. One can't help but wonder what Vilmos Zsigmond, Gordon Willis or Sven Nykvist might have accomplished in his stead. Despite an inexplicable $19 million budget, this looks murky and amateurish, matching a frustratingly obscure screenplay. It's all the more annoying that a particularly shrill Mia Farrow gets most of the screentime when Kathy Bates, Lily Tomlin, Madonna, John Cusack and Julie Kavner shine in bit parts.
