Calisthenics, Poison Ivy, Final Cut by Woody Allen is a plain, spoken realistic story set in a domestic setting. It is told
through a series of 1st person letters between a camp leader, Varnishke, and the father, Snell, of a child who attends the camp. The story begins with Snell writing a letter to Varnishke, in which he refuses to share any part of the movie deal that came from his son’s film project at the summer film camp. The letters turn meaner until Varnishke reveals that he has kept the original negative, which forces Snell to suggest a payment of 10% to Varnishke. In the final letter the camp leader states his wife requests the payment to be 20%.The form is very interesting for this story. Mr. Allen has chosen to write with letters because of an inspiration from letters written in the back of a magazine. I don’t think the story could have been told any other way and it is refreshing to see a shift in form. There is so much told about the two men when they throw around names, both as insulting and as trying to show they know more than the other, and then they slip into foolish, childlike insults – making fun of the son or the wife of the other. It is a simple battle of egos, turned fun with the sport of money and family.