"Annie Hall" (10/10)

[notchreturns]

Annie Hall 10/10 or ****
Directed By:Woody Allen
Written By:Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman
Starring:Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts and Carol Kane
Rated R 1977

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/6304907729.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg


I rarely ever enjoy romanctic comedies.I find them to be to mushy and melodramtic, but there are a few that I simply adore."Annie Hall" is one of those few.

Alvy Singer(Woody Allen)is a neurotic New York comedian who can't stand people and their little peeves.He's the type that will point out someone's faults and attack them in his mind.He show's the love for his famous city like it's going out of style.He never want s to leave.His girlfriend, Annie Hall(Diane Keaton)is an aspiring singer who is equally neurotic.There seemingly the perfect match.Together they go to the movies, share stories from there childhood, mock people they see walking through the park and even visit Annie's very conservative family in a hilarius scene.They talk about everything and anything.Eventually they begin to fight, they break up, get back together, Annie wants this and that in her life, Alvy is fine the way he is and before ya know it you've been sucked into two lives that are as screwed up and real as your very own life.

The Acting
Woody Allen has only mode of acting.Neurotic New Yorkers who love to chat and in "Annie Hall" he certainly does just this.Diane Keaton is perfect as the sweet, lovable Annie Hall.She oozes that thing every man wants and looks like she is having such a fun time doing it.The supporting players are all pretty good as well.

The Direction
There's nothing like shots of the beautiful New York streets and we get plenty of it.Allen's direction is good for many reasons, but the one reason I love it so much is the even flow the film gives off.No slow or dull moments.I also love the shot of Alvy and his best friend Rob walking from far away towards the camera.They eventually get there and it follows them along on their conversation.

The Writing
Just plain brillant.The conversations, the one liners, the characters, the moments when Alvy talks to the camera, the subtitles under Alvy and Annie when there talking to eachother.Everything about this script I absolutely love.No faults at all.

Overall
Annie Hall gets a perfect 10/10 from me.I can't find any faults.The writing, acting, directing, cinematography are all on mark.I've seen it three times and each time it gets better.Annie Hall is my favorite comedy and I doubt it will ever drop from my top ten.

[Fergus]

Is this your first time seeing "Annie Hall", notch, or is it a repeat viewing?

Woody Allen has been able to entertain me unlike any other director. Not only that, but he does it consistently. "Annie Hall" was the second Woody Allen film I had ever watched, after "Sweet and Lowdown". I remember constantly laughing; no other romantic comedy has ever been that funny, seriously. I can't think of one.

In reply to your comments on the films direction, Allen talked about it in the recent documentary by Richard Schickel "Woody Allen: A Life in Film". Allen talked about how the great cinematographer Gordon Willis taught him many things about framing shots and such. And it is mostly Willis' fault that the film looks so great. This was the first time Willis worked on a Woody Allen film, and he continued to do so, through "The Purple Rose of Cairo" in 1985. I don't know why he stopped working with Allen, but the films Willis did were the best looking out of all Allen's films.

Impeccable writing to say the least, and endless creativity. The reason that ANNIE HALL is better than most romantic comedies is because it doesn't resort to the mushy sentimentality that plagues many of those films. It is more of a neutral feel. The ending is sad, but he doesn't attempt to be depressing or make us cry. Anyone can resort to sentimentality, but that is sometimes crap. Woody has accomplished quite a task of being funny, bitingly realistic, and ending on a down note, but it isn't depressing enough to keep people like me coming back for more. I've seen it three times, and love it still. Great film with some great laughs. There is one line that I laughed really hard at while watching the movie recently:

Annie pulls her car to the curb, Alvy, opens his door and says this--

"Don't worry. We can walk to the curb from here".

and this dialogue, when Alvy talks to a couple on the sidewalk:

ALVY: Here, you look like a happy couple, um, are you?
STRANGER #1: Yeah.
ALVY: Yeah? So, so, how do you account for it?
STRANGER #1: Uh, I'm very shallow and empty and I have no ideas and nothing interesting to say.
STRANGER #2: And I'm exactly the same way.
ALVY: I see! Wow! That's very interesting. So you've managed to work out something?

Annie Hall is one of the great films, a film I adore. I wouldn't say it is Allen's best yet, though, I need to see ManHattan once again, before I pass judgement on his greatest film yet. BTW, I liked the review Notch, keep it up, I enjoy reading them.