Annie Hall
How should I put it – I have been watching Annie Hall with nothing but the thought of Manhattan in my head. Surely I have been comparing both films the whole time, and their relation to New York.
First, New York. “Manhattan” showed the beauty of New York through Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and a certain poetry of the life in New York (yes, going to art exhibitions surely is one of the greatest and important things you can do in New York) while “Annie Hall” shows a clear attachment of the protagonist to the city by making fun of the horrid life in Los Angeles. Woody Allen’s neurotic characters reflects on New York as much as New York reflects on him, and that is shown in a much stronger and nicer way in “Annie Hall”. Unlike “Manhattan” however, this makes me feel a little a bit scared of New York though, haha.
I still want to live there one day, but before I turn 35 and not for longer than 2 years please :3
Next, Annie herself is the most outstanding and interesting character in this film. The whole film stands and falls with her eccentric character who, in my eyes, was horrible and brilliant at the same time. La-dee-dah. With her and Alvy’s relationships being the main topic of the film, a lot is spent on characterizing her – and that is brilliantly done in my opinion. Why Annie is horrible actually does not necessite any explanation: She’s similarily neurotic as him, she is extremely weird and full of complexes of not being good enough for him. She puts on horrible voices and is quite egoistic in the way she only really cares about herself and mostly doesn’t want to be lonely. On the other hand, she also is shown as an interesting, multi-faceted woman whose personality is inherently hilarious. You immediately understand why a man would be attracted to her, because she seems to be somebody special that you can have lots of fun with. Reality shows that being happy with such a woman probably is an impossible thing to do.
The character of Woody Allen himself is not all too novel now that I have watched Manhattan. The only thing that is added were the jokes about jews which were utterly hilarious of course. Allen is still a beautifully sarcastic, funnily neurotic person who makes me think of Schnitzler‘s Anatol. That guy, unfortunately, is much more of an asshole and totally not funny but some character traits in their inability of having a proper relationship is somewhat similar.
Also, “Manhattan” shines through the character of the 17-year-old girlfriend as the antipole to the somewhat childish and incapable characters of the rest of the supposedly more mature cast. Basically, I have enjoyed Manhattan more because it shows the dynamics of relationships between several people. I guess I just enjoy stories about interpersonal relationships more when more factors (i.e. people *hrr*) are involved. It touches me more and adds lots of (melo-)drama.
Similar to Schnitzler’s plays, Woody Allen’s films make me think about relationships (on top of making me laugh a lot ;) ). Basically I feel so reminded of the realities of relationships and how I definitely don’t want them to be. In films and in books, these relationships are greatest enjoyment and hilarity, of course.
Well, I love character-driven films like this that make me laugh many times. But really, Woody Allen is a genius for having produced films such as “Manhattan” and “Annie Hall”, although I admit that I preferred the former, mainly because the main characters made me facepalm a few times while “Manhattan” was just funny from the start to the end.
PS. I’m listening to “Kiss Me” on repeat now. How silly. I wish Truffaut’s grave would look as beautiful as in the music video. Unfortunately it’s full of metro tickets in reality.
Probably Woody Allen is a bit like Haruki Murakami in one aspect – he repeats himself continously and he is entertaining and interesting though.
And “La-dee-dah” is just cult. Nothing more or less. XD I should force myself to use the phrase, haha.
I guess the metro tickets are a tribute to his film “Le dernier métro”? I even think they are quite nice, they make his grave livelier and more special – just like Oscar Wilde’s grave. ;) (Hm, I should have kissed it with lipstick to make an other remark on the grave but my spittle! XD)
I think I haven’t watched enough Woody Allen movies to be able to judge that. After all, he does seem to have changed over the years. His jokes are less sex-related and the films don’t take relationships and neuroses so serious? Haha.
Oh god, la-dee-dah XD I hope I’ll never hear that from you. I think that it’s a nice gimmick when Annie does that, but ultimately she’s quite an annoying, albeit entertaining woman – I would not necessarily want to be friends with her, or even her partner.
But oh, the reference to “Le dernier métro” makes so much sense! Well, I do understand why you find it livelier, and it is somewhat cult, but on the other hand, it really, really does not look aesthetically. The same goes for Oscar Wilde, but there, I just couldn’t resist making you guys kiss it, hahaha.
Next time we’re in Paris, I’ll make sure to have lipstick ready for you ;)