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Annie Hall

 

Rated: PG
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, et al.
Director: Woody Allen

Review

Annie Hall is one of the truest, most bittersweet romances on film. In it, Allen plays a thinly disguised version of himself: Alvy Singer, a successful--if neurotic--television comedian living in Manhattan. Annie (the wholesomely luminous Dianne Keaton) is a Midwestern transplant who dabbles in photography and sings in small clubs. When the two meet, the sparks are immediate--if repressed. Alone in her apartment for the first time, Alvy and Annie navigate a minefield of self-conscious "is-this-person-someone-I'd-want-to-get-involved-with?" conversation. As they speak, subtitles flash their unspoken thoughts: the likes of "I'm not smart enough for him" and "I sound like a jerk." Despite all their caution, they connect, and we're swept up in the flush of their new romance. Allen's antic sensibility shines here in a series of flashbacks to Alvy's childhood, growing up, quite literally, under a rumbling roller coaster. His boisterous Jewish family's dinner table shares a split screen with the WASP-y Hall's tight-lipped holiday table, one Alvy has joined for the first time. His position as outsider is uncontestable he looks down the table and sizes up Annie's "Grammy Hall" as "a classic Jew-hater."

The relationship arcs, as does Annie's growing desire for independence. It quickly becomes clear that the two are on separate tracks, as what was once endearing becomes annoying. Annie Hall embraces Allen's central themes--his love affair with New York (and hatred of Los Angeles), how impossible relationships are, and his fear of death. But their balance is just right, the chemistry between Allen's worry-wart Alvy and Keaton's gangly, loopy Annie is one of the screen's best pairings. It couldn't be more engaging. --Susan Benson

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Annie Hall was a turning point for Woody toward more 'serious' and somewhat autobiobraphical films. It remains his most popular film and won 4 Accademy Awards.

The way Allen combined his New York characters with sharp satirical comments on everything from intellectual phoniness, racism and sexual angst to shared experiences like standing in line at the movies was new, fresh and original.

He re-invented the modern romantic comedy and his style has been much imitated ever since. I could see Annie Hall's influence recently in Tao of Steve.

Allen was not giving us a romantic feel good romance like a Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan film. And he's certainly not a charismatic or even charming leading man. This was an awkward, warts and all romance which was sometimes uncomfortable to watch.

The film begins with Allen as Alvy Singer talking directing to the camera and explaining that he's quite upset because he's broken up with Annie. (It doesn't quite match up, time wise when we get to the end of the film-but then the time-line throughout the film is toyed with in the style of Fellini's 8 1/2). He says:

"The other important joke for me is one that's usually attributed to Groucho Marx but I think it appears originally in Freud's wit and its relation to the unconscious - and it goes like this. I'm paraphrasing. I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member. That's the key joke of my adult life, in terms of my relationships with women."

Alvy Singer is Allen's alter-ego -a stand up comic and Allen's quintessential New York character. This pessimistic, paranoid, is too smart to be a naive romantic, but yearns to be exactly that. He's always a fish out of water, because he is not comfortable with his own thoughts and can not accept either his good qualities nor his bad ones. So he's forever going to be in analysis. He is impatient with everyone-including himself and has to whine about everything that bothers him. He has a propensity to say the wrong thing at the wrong time and to wait too long to say the right thing. He'll let something slip out of his mouth uncensored, and when he tries to soften it, he only makes it worse. Yet he actually means no harm. He's merely rejecting everything he can before it ultimately rejects him. His fears and paranoias are worn on his sleeve. He'll not be hurt, because who would want to get past all his 'stuff' to really get to know him and have an opportunity to hurt him. He wears his inferiority complex as both a security blanket and a suit of armor.

And then there is Annie. A women who is utterly vulnerable, yet extremely tough. Someone who refuses to be pessimistic but is ready for a change because the path she has been on has not led to anything or anyone substantial. Maybe Alvy is perfect for her. Annie is smart, but not as intellectual or well read as Alvy. She's a bundle of scattered energy and feels the need to smoke dope before she has sex. She's full of insecurities but she's trying to over come them, not wear them like a security blanket. Annie lacks confidence, but she isn't afraid. She doesn't believe in herself, but she knows she should and really wants to. She knows she needs to grow and change and she knows Alvy might help her do that-even if as she grows and change she leaves Alvy behind.

And so we have the bittersweet romance. And it's because the film is first about the romance and then about Allen's obsessions and interests that made the film his most popular.

Nearly all of the film's scenes are laugh out loud funny. Some are laying bare the relationship, some are exposing Alvy's neuroses or forcing us to recognize how ridiculous people can be. Some are full brilliant comic inventiveness-such as when the class room of kids stand up and as little kids, with children's voices tell us what they are doing now. One is a plumber, another is a junkie, another is into leather.

Annie Hall may be full of sharp observance but it keeps its distance from the audience with it's almost too clever gimmicks. Woody breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the camera several times during the film. He uses surrealistic gags, and even a brief animated sequence in the film. He even has Paul Simon playing a record producer who really likes Annie Hall. We get several New York versus Los Angeles jokes, that seem a bit stale now. We also get the funny subtitle scene. Annie Hall is less personal and intimate than Allen's next film would be (Manhattan)but it's a little funnier.

And let's not forget the film also had an amazing fashion influence. The Annie Hall look is still with us.

OF INTEREST:

The relationship between Alvy and Annie is full of easy to make real life parallels. The film's title incorporates Diane Keaton's real name- Diane Hall and her nickname Annie.

Carol Kane has a small role as Alvy's first wife.

Christopher Walken has a small role playing Annie Hall's brother who confesses having suicidal thoughts to Alvy.

Jeff Goldblum is seen briefly, but memorably as part of the Los Angeles party scene. He is on the phone and says: "I forgot my mantra."

Chris Jarmick, Author of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder Available End of January 2001. Thanks for pre-ordering your copy.

 

 

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