Three things I want to cover with Manhattan, a film which I had seen before but had largely forgotten:
First, watching Manhattan now is supremely creepy, since in the first minutes of the film it becomes known that Woody Allen's character is dating a 17 year old girl. To me, it speaks to Woody's absolute honesty that his films are loaded with jokes about having sex with underage girls, etc. - he cannot help but put his entire self on the screen, even if it would eventually be discovered that he is a pervert.
But - I want to get behind that first talking scene to the narration that opens the film. Allen states, 'Chapter 1 - He still thought of Manhattan in black and white, with a Gershwin soundtrack...', then dismisses said opening, going through many others. Of course, we're being treated to black and white pictures of Manhattan with a Gershwin soundtrack, and the entire film continues this way. Allen's narrator therefore ironically undercuts his own creation - in a true love story, a film like Casablanca, such narration would be well-placed and would continue without interruption, but Allen's narrator struggles to begin this film because this is a film that really doesn't know what to do with love, or with anything - it asks more questions than it answers.
Lastly, I'm sure most critics note how much the film loves Manhattan, and filming it in black and white is a perfect choice - the haggard, washed out New York of The Taking of Pelham 123 and Koyaanisqatsi is replaced by a fairy tale world. We know we're watching a film precisely because it is in black and white. However, one thing to take away is how the film uses extras - people are always whirling in and out of scenes, and while people confess their deepest feelings, there's often other people within earshot. Such is existence in the big city - Allen nailed this, and even though the technique might be distracting, it's far more true-to-life.
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i really enjoyed the third paragraph because its got something to offer about dense city living. other than that, not so interested in the movie or the little worm woody allen.
ReplyDeletewoody allen tends to get a lot of hate, most of it probably deserved, but his best movies are worth seeing. definitely a polarizing director, though.
ReplyDeletealright i'll qdogg this. what about "sisters"? is that worth seeing?
ReplyDeleteHey Triumph,
ReplyDeleteFinally posted about a movie I've seen (and really like for that matter.) As Huntronik said, your third parahprah was absolutely gold. Well done.
Your comments about the black and white choice were right on as well.
Manhattan, possibly more than any other Woody Allen movie, focuses on the grass is always greener sort of outlook on relationships (and that's saying a lot considering the frequency of that subject matter in his other films). Switching from doting younger lover, to hesitant mistress of a married man, and back again uncertainly, he embodies the impulse almost everyone gets (to some degree or other) to constantly evaluate the current relationship to all past ones and to be nagged by the spector of some possibility, real or imagined, that the other relationship, or some new as of yet unfound relationship will be the one to finally fulfill you.
This sort of neuroticism is a well juxtoposed against the fairy tale backdrop that you mentioned, where relationships work out magically well... somehow.
I also agree with your 4 star rating for this one.
Huntronik,
ReplyDeleteWoody Allen Movies worth seeing (in order) IMO:
1.) Deconstructing Harry
2.) Manhattan
3.) Sleeper
4.) Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
5.) Bananas
Everything you always wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask is pretty funny as well. It's a series of vignettes and doesn't really feel like a full movie so I didn't really include it.
Shadows and Fog is one I like personally but it got pretty widely panned. For a modern Allen, Vicky Barcelona is well shot with gorgeous scenes from Barcelona and the movie is alright but not great.
Disclaimer: I haven't seen every woody allen movie so I'm sure I'm leaving off some good ones.
ok i will q-dogg deconstructing harry and sisters. isn't that a movie by allen, or am i just making that up? or is it called hannah and her sisters?
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's called Hannah and Her Sister. I've never seen it so I can't vouch for it.
ReplyDeleteWhat types of movies do you usually like? Sleeper is a sci-fi spoof, almost an intellectual spaceballs type movie.
Bananas is a spoof of a latin American country coup (covered by none other than Howard Cosell in person).
Deconstructing Harry is of a journey through the stories and neurotic life of a writer featuring an amazing cast. The stories and his life start merging and melding.
Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is kind of a modern version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream that is sort of whimsical, set in an idyllic country home where three couples collide.
Manhattan has been covered nicely.
I would "q-dogg" whichever ever one sounds like the kind of movie you usually dig, because he's got a relatively diverse range (although they're all woody allen through and through). I wouldn't want you to end up condemning him for one movie just because you didn't get to see the one right up your alley. I've seen a few that I thought were stinkers but it was worth it to get to the others.
rubeskies:
ReplyDeletewhat i find interesting about allen's relationships in the film is that they mirror how he feels about himself, i think. the young girl is totally different from him, she's naive and carefree, and so he wonders, 'how can this girl be with me?', constantly striving to push her away. likewise, mary (diane keaton) is a mess of intellectualism, neuroses, and regrets, like him; with her, he initially loathes the fact that he is attracted to her, mirroring his own self-loathing. he bounces between trying to love himself and that-which-is-not-himself, ultimately unable to secure either.
re: woody allen generally -
ReplyDeletei have not seen most of your favorites, rubeskies. woody allen is like a jazz performer in that so many of his films are often similar but never the same, so i try to spread them out. deconstructing harry, for instance, i've not seen. i'll have to queue that one up soon.
surprised to see annie hall off your top 5 though, as that is my favorite (and i'm not sure it's close).
re:Manhattan
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think you've hit on one of the main reasons why he's so neurotic/never satisfied in relationships. He's extremely self centered but in a very strange way. He is always comparing himself and seeing himself in others and anything of himself he sees in others, he freaks out about (as you said). I think that is ultimately what brings him back to the girl at the end. Because she's so different from him, he's finally able to stop thinking about himself and focus on her.
re: Annie Hall
ReplyDeleteEverybody loves that one I know. It's known as his best, and it's certainly a good movie. I did enjoy it.
But for me it's just so straight forward IMO. If you can tell from my list of favorites, they're all his "out there" movies where he tries something relatively crazy. I love when he just goes out there and really gets creative. Those to me are always my favorites.
No mention of Crimes and Misdemeanors? That's another good one.
ReplyDeleteI really liked Deconstructing Harry. It has one of my favorite lines in movie history.
I watched Crimes and Misdemeanors with a girl and I, ahem, can't say we made it to the end. Not that the movie wasn't good. It seemed to have some of the best Woody/Keaton chemistry I'd seen. But, well, you know.
ReplyDelete