Annie Hall (1977)
THE SCOOP
Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Shelly Duvall, Carol Kane, Paul Simon
Plot: Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Awards: Won 4 Oscars - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Leading Actress, Best Original Screenplay. Nom. for 1 Oscar - Best Leading Actor
Runtime: 93min
Rating: PG for sexual references and crude humor.
IN RETROSPECT (Spoilers: NO)
“Honey, there's a spider in your bathroom the size of a Buick.”
This was the movie that Star Wars (1977) lost the Best Picture
Oscar to in 1978. But it lost to a great
film, not necessarily Woody Allen’s greatest, even if most critics consider it
his magnum opus. I’m convinced that films
like Manhattan (1979) operate at a
cinematic level even higher and deeper than that of Annie Hall.
Still, Annie Hall would go down into the history books as the film that
finally sees Allen arrive on the big stage as a writer-director with one of the
most unique voices in American cinema, and undoubtedly after four decades in
the game, the most consistent one.
Allen also stars with Diane Keaton
who plays his love partner. They give
wonderful performances as a sort-of-dysfunctional couple who finds that being
committed to each other far exceeds the effort that they are willing to
give.
It is a love story between two
lovers who try but give up. Perhaps
giving up is too negative an impression for these two charming, sometimes
socially inept folks. They simply stop
and move forward, absolve of the related guilt but not of the memory of the
good times. What Annie Hall does is provide 90 minutes of brilliant writing that
rewards viewers with intelligent insights paired with devastating humour that
somehow illuminate the joys and perils of couplehood.
In essence, the film is a mature
romantic-comedy with a rich and strong neurotic catch, so typical of Allen’s
senses and sensibilities. He also breaks
the fourth wall in a number of occasions (e.g. he brings out the real Marshall
McLuhan to make a point; he also asks us to side with him or his
arguments). It is a cheeky film, aware
of its mode of address, but more critically, aware of how it addresses common
themes in new ways.
Annie Hall remains fresh even if
it somewhat barely survives its age. In
some way, it is an evergreen movie, but you can tell it is slowly aging. Films like Casablanca (1942) are also evergreen, but they have aged well. Or maybe they don’t age at all.
Woody Allen’s mastery of his
craft, an art that he has ingeniously created for himself and his faithful
audiences for the longest of time, is admirable in so many ways. Annie
Hall is his coming-of-age movie, his first defining milestone. I think it is best to sum it up this way: Keaton
plays Annie Hall, Woody is Annie
Hall.
Verdict: Often regarded as his
magnum opus, this is top-tier Woody Allen operating at the height of his
powers.
GRADE: A (9/10 or 4.5 stars)
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