Jayclops' musings on his favorite pasttime and escape.
The horrible and the miserable.
May 21, 2007Annie Hall - (Woody Allen, 1977)
Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) are lined up in a theatre to watch a documentary about the Nazi occupation. It promises to be a full-packed theater because the line is long and the least you would want is some smart-ass media teacher talking about Fellini’s ‘self-indulgent’ filmmaking to Marshall MacLuhan’s theory of hot-medium-cool-medium. You’d swear you could smash a pile of horseshit to shut the blabbermouth up and pull out a fake MacLuhan hiding from a tarp and let the theorist say “you know nothing about me!”
That is actually what happens, which makes it really funny. Annie Hall is made up of these moments that will just make you shake your head at how brilliant Allen has written this simple and humane comedy about the relationships and individual differences. This is a kind of film about characters, which could only mean it will rely on good writing – and Mr. Allen is one talented writer. Once you see Alvy talking about life in the opening monologue, it sucks you in up to that scene where they parted in the street.
Diane Keaton, who won an Oscar for her role is a natural charmer – her emotions are raw and she is equally matched by Allen himself. I really liked that scene where they first met after a tennis match. Annie asks Alvie if he has a ride and he says no, and asks if Annie needs a ride. Annie says she has a car and Alvy says it’s weird for her to be asking that because he thought she would want a ride with Alvy.
Mr. Allen wants us to see that life sucks – how about categorizing people into the miserable and the horrible, relationships are difficult to get through but you must want more of it – more of love, more life – because that’s just the way it is. It’s a simple thesis actually but Allen wants us to see the beauty in it.
