Hannah and Her Sisters
Errr… Somehow there is something extremely wrong about this movie. The dialogue, the mannerisms, especially the way people speak is absolutely Woody-Allen-like (think “I can’t believe it!”) But unlike for Diane Keaton and, to some degree, Mia Farrow, the Woody-Allen-ism doesn’t really suit the actors in the film, let alone Michael Caine. In this case, it’s destroying an otherwise lovely film – for the first time in a Woody Allen film, I didn’t feel any connection to the main love story. Even though it perfectly makes sense (some guy in love with his wife’s sister, is there anything more simple and dramatic than that?) and I like Michael Caine a lot, I thought their relationship was more awkward than anything else.
The problem with a Mia Farrow film is the appearance of Mia Farrow. Oh God, I hate her, hahahaha. She still has a horrible voice and she doesn’t do much. Luckily she is not really the main character her, despite the title of the story. It’s still disturbing when you see Hannah and Elliott though. It just feels so wrong when he’s all “I love you” – eek, I guess that’s the point.
Perhaps what I really dislike is the 80’s style of the film? But then again, it never bothered me in, say, “A Fish Called Wanda” and Jamie Lee Curtis surely looked absolutely weird in that one.
The actually lovely character in the film is Woody Allen – as always. It’s too bad he wasn’t much more than comic relief in the film, because an existential relationship-stricken Woody Allen is always a great addition to his own films.
Now where are the great reviews for the film coming from? So the greatest thing of the film is the journey the characters take – they change and in many ways, this is indeed Woody Allen’s “Fanny and Alexander”. The homage to that masterpiece is pretty beautiful, and it brings up questions such as religion, the meaning of life and all those little Woody Allen details that make this film. I think my favorite scene was the one in which Woody Allen’s character Mickey and Holly get together, where Mickey tells her about how he found his own revelation by watching a Marx Brothers film. That is so lovely and real and wonderful that this scene alone makes the film worthwhile to see.
Apart from that, it was an okay film and definitely not a Woody Allen I would necessarily recommend. It didn’t make me laugh either, sadly. It seems like Woody Allen is doing better with his homages to Fellini (Stardust Memories) rather than Bergman (Deconstructing Harry, Hannah and her sisters).