Manhattan
It’s been over half a year since I watched “Manhattan” and today, I actually managed to have mistaken it for Annie Hall. This is even more surprising because the reason why I never blogged about the film was that it made a huge impression on me. After watching “Match Point” and “Scoop”, I was really curious about Woody Allen’s older films (I don’t count “Everything you wanted to know about sex” and the horrid “Celebrity” as representative films for Woody Allen) – and I ended up being speechless in front of its hilarity and greatness. Unfortunately, I most likely have forgotten a majority of my first impressions, but whatever. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing that I can now only write about the things that were ultimately memorable for me.
Obviously I should write something about this film’s humour, but I suppose it is basically impossible to do so. Woody Allen’s humour is so unique that it is impossible to call it american (like Billy Wilder) or british (like Monty Python) or whatever. If anything, I’d call it sex-centered, but I think ultimately relationships are the center of everything which made it so incredibly good for me. As I mentioned before, I am a blind fan of relationship-driven stories (like “Closer” or “Brokeback Mountain”), and in Manhattan, the dramatic relationships are coupled with the greatest, humorous characters. Allen’s portrait of his neurotic self is probably one of the best I have ever seen.
Oh, my favourite scene most probably is the one in which Yale’s wife blames Isaac for having made Yale and Mary meet each other. Ahahahaha! Just beautiful.
A serious aspect of the story that I liked a lot was the portrait of Tracy and her relationship to Isaac. This old geezer didn’t deserve her, oh god, but ultimately I think it was very sweet and interesting of Woody Allen to depict a relationship with such an age difference. Tracy clearly is the most serious and mature character of all of them – and she is the one who gets looked down the most at the same time. I am glad that a good actress was playing her and that she is the person who rounded off the end of the film so nicely.
I need to watch “Manhattan” again. And I really have to watch Annie Hall.