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History of AnnieHall|
The interesting thing about this film is how egocentric Woody Allen is (note, Woody Allen, not Alvy Singer). Woody Allen dominates the screen with his interesting monologues/soliloquies/ask-the-audience's. And the most interesting part is how it's not Shakespearean at all. Singer is a neurotic freak of a man who uses his imagination and interactions with invisible people to display all the worst parts of his psyche. Flashbacks done in this vein were equally effective. |
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Let's start with the rather unusual format of the film. Woody Allen does everything that he can as a director to avoid telling a story from beginning to end. He begins with Alvy Singer talking candidly to the camera in a monologue totally unrelated to anything except for establishing character, which it does fantastically. From there, the story jumps to a point where Annie Hall and Alvy are in a relationship, back to where they're both single, to Alvy's childhood home under a roller coaster and his 1st grade classroom. It sounds completely random, but it is used in a way that a coherent storyline still emerges. There are also some very clever juxtapositions, like Alvy arguing with Annie about starting taking college classes, how good all the professors are jumping to Alvy complaining about what hacks the professors are when one wants to take Annie to coffee. |
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As a romantic comedy, it's great. Does it deserve to be among the best? I believe so. A romantic comedy that three guys in the lounge find funny must have something right with it. |
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Woody Allen does a great job inventing and making use of his unusual characters. They're excessively neurotic in a way that both entertains and captivates an audience. Alvy Singer is that ridiculously awkward part of all of us, where we just don't know what to do or what to say. He indulges in the fantasies of his own mind, which sounds dirty, but in reality, he just wants to bring the big-headed people down to size. Annie is another sort of awkwardness. She thinks that she's ditzy, but really she just seems like the typical female nerd. She wears oversized men's clothing and plays tennis badly. Her male-female interactions at the beginning of the film obviously show a lack of interaction with the opposite sex. But, it makes her almost lovable. Alvy is just a glump. There are some beautiful things about it. Alvy and Annie are so cute together, and it's heartbreaking at the end of the movie when they break up. The ending is both original and exceptionally clever. As a romantic comedy, it's great. Does it deserve to be among the best? I believe so. A romantic comedy that three guys in the lounge find funny must have something right with it. |