47 films in 50 years (50 if you count short films)

That’s practically a film a year!

And here I am struggling to write my third feature script! Instead, I’m doing movie reviews to fuel my procrastination. Anyway, this is probably why I’m not big on ANNIE HALL. It’s just about everyone’s favorite Woody Allen film and most likely, the only Woody Allen film people will ever see. If you get anything from this review, all I ask is that you watch a Woody Allen film other than ANNIE HALL. Trust me. It’s worth it. Start with this one. Then watch 9 more. Then come back and watch ANNIE HALL. I guarantee you’ll feel the same way in that Mr. Allen has produced an impressive canon of work besides what the masses have seen.

MANHATTAN opens with a beautiful black-and-white montage of skyscrapers set to a nebbish monologue only Woody could deliver. He nervously waxes on about how much he loves his city and the struggles of writing his book; it’s funny because after a few viewings, I realized this sequence doesn’t really add much to the story other than showing off and setting the tone that this is a black-and-white romantic comedy starring neurotic New Yorkers (an archetype Allen practically invented). But the opening draws you in because the dialogue and images are so well-matched and choreographed with one another, it just feels right.

What I’m most impressed with is Allen’s writing. His films contain such a witty and intelligent dialogue, incorporating philosophical themes that in a lesser writer’s hands, would sound pretentious and preachy. This is the genius of Allen’s writing. He can find the humor and absurdity of life, death, love, relationships, infidelity, and the metaphysics of happiness without being too ham-handed about it. The recipe for MANHATTAN follows: one boisterous George Gershwin orchestral score, a love-triangle in the big city, a dash of philosophical comic relief, cooked in black and white film and you have this wonderfully romantic and funny movie.

Chapter One

Like Isaac, both Yale and Mary are uncertain about their relationship. Both profess tolove each other, but remain sceptical about the longevity of their connection. It is onlyafter Yale and Mary parting ways that Yale realises that she is an indispensable part ofhis life. This is of course a problem, because in the interim, Isaac and Mary have begundating. For Allen, this mess is the defining feature of relationships. Humans cannotrepress what they feel for others, even if it means discarding all sense of order in theprocess.

Chapter Two

Manhattan is more critical of the retrospectivity and petulance of therelationships in the film. It seems that both Isaac and Yale only wake up to their romantic realities once they have ended. Their tendencies to remember and idealise thepast is damaging, and destined to lead down a path of loss and dysfunction. Similarly,Isaac’s attempt to win back Tracy is embellished with a childish insecurity. He wants herback because he has lost Mary. Tracy is only an adolescent, and Isaac sees her as a resortwhere he can have power. What Yale and Isaac both share in common is a desire forcontrol, something they cannot have with Mary, an intelligent, extroverted and volatilewoman.

Chapter Three

Manhattan, though, is far from bleak. It is laced with Allen’s acerbic wit, and constantlyremembers to satirise the turbulence of modern relationships. Even though Isaac’sattempts to drive Jill’s lover over come from a place of emotion, Allen’s execution of theline ‘I tried to run her off the road’ could not be funnier. Even in the most inappropriateof moments, Allen’s Isaac cannot help but take refuge in comedy. It is as though smartone-liners and jokes are Isaac’s default state, a place in which he is protected from theharshness of the endeavours of love.

Chapter Four

Manhattan represents Allen at his most self-examining and romantic. It melds three ofhis greatest fascinations: Jazz, New York, and romance. It is very rare in film that adirector can explore the spectrum of love and romance, but Allen does and in theprocess augments Manhattan ’s truthfulness. Its ending is focused on the undyingoptimism we must have if we are to continue search for completeness, and what betterplace to find that than in New York City.

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