Manhattan

One yea after his triumph at the oscars, Woody Allen came back to visit the themes he endears the most, people, relationships, psychanalysis, and a New York, and rather then taking a thematic departures, he made what might be qualified as the second volume of a trilogy which is still unachieved, "Manhattan" that is, one of the director's landmarkish works.

Isaac Davis (Woody Allen) is a successful TV writer in New York with a fair amount of success

with women, and friends who support him, what seems to be a happiness receipe has the exact opposite effects on Isaac, he is neurotic, self loathing, and dating a seventeen years old girl Tracy (Mariel Hemingway).

In a broad move of desperation Isaac quits his high paying job to focus on writing his book, but he is unable to work, and his finances decline rapidly, during this time he meets Mary (Diane Keaton) a pseudo intellectual as he describes her, who can go on showing off her knowledge for hours about things ranging from Van Gogh to the Saturn's sattelites, a series of events lead the two of them to date, Mary who is every bit as neurotic and unsecure as Isaac is a perfect match for him for a while, but does this affair have a future.

This movie takes the older then this world concept of "greener on the other side" puts many levels of comedy and brilliance over it, Isaac doesn't know what he wants, and he systematically destroys any chance he might have to be a little bit happy, some people are just like that, his relationship with Tracy is perfect but he intellectualise it too much, his other relationship with Mary is him going to the other side of the specturm to see if he fits in there, but he is a misfit, in all ranges, colours, and relationships.

It's shot in a great black and white by Gordon Willis in wider then usual format, maybe to capture the broadth of the city, the dialogues are brilliant, and the acting a little bit theatrical, but theather is not far from this movie, nor is the cinema of Bergman, one of Allen's hero.

But in it's essence this movie is a commentary he is having on the intellectual circles of New York, despite his looks Woody Allen is the kind of a person "to stay the whole afternoon watching sports on television then reading russian litterature" he seems to have more then desdain for pseudo intllectuals and their self centred monologues, but it is also a very funny movie, with hilarious bits of dialogues, and a very good romatnic comedy in it's own right, one of the director's/authors best films to date, it manages to have it's pulse on the city's rhythm, while drawing a broad painting on the issues it's inhabitants might have, and considering the huge task that is, it's a masterful piece of work, and a good place for anybody to dive in the Allenian brilliant universe.

Deconstructing Harry - Best of Woody ?

here is ANOTHER movie which deals with writer's block, but hell more funny, it's Woody Allen's "deconstructing harry", now everybody says that woody's movies all look the same lately, but every now and then he manages to surprise even the most faithful of his fans.

Woody's character in the movie is called "Harry Block" he is a famous writer with a chaotic personal life, a number of ex wives, problems with his conservative family, addiction to hookers, and now he has writer's block (Harry Block, Writer's Block, got it ??), the movie travels between the realy life of Harry Block, and some some of the character's of his stories, who are based on himself or some people he knows, which causes him more trouble.


The climax of the movie is when Harry drives to uptown New york to receive a honorary degree, taking with him his son, a hooker, a friend of his, while on the road he has encounters with real and fictional people who matterd to him, the end of the film is suprising and very pleasent, and it's as if Woddy Allen himself, was paying hommage to what made him the legendary author he is.



The cast is top notch, Billy Crystal, Demi Moore, Robin Williams, Elizabeth Shue, Tobey Maguire, and the sketches are hilarious, this is a movie which should be considered as a part of his masterpieces, along with "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan", curiously it flew under the radar, and it's almost forgotten about which is a shame, but still this movie earned him an Nth academy award nomination for best screenplay, and reminded people that ol' woody still has it, this movie is really smart funny and has wit, and the characters are amazing, and in this age of reality shows it reminds us that a movie can still have a heart and soul, and what can you say about a movie containing a reflection as deep as "All people know the same truth. Our lives consist of how we chose to distort it", along with lines as "Every hooker I ever speak to tells me that it beats the hell out of waitressing. Waitressing's gotta be the worst fu**ing job in the world", and wihtous sounding corny !


Jebbiness : 3.5/5