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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
----------- 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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