Annie Hall vs. Manhattan

ANNIE HALL vs. MANHATTAN: A WOODY ALLEN THROWDOWN
By Alan Bacchus

Annie Hall and Manhattan are two seminal films from a master filmmaker made nearly one after another (with Interiors sandwiched in between), both nominated for Oscars. Although, Annie Hall was the bigger winner for Best Picture and Best Director (Manhattan received Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress noms). Having the opportunity to watch both films again on Blu-ray back-to-back, they make an interesting comparison.

Manhattan or Annie Hall? Which film is better? Which do you prefer? It's an often discussed point of debate among Allen fans and filmgoers in general. Full disclosure though – I don’t consider myself a Woody Allen fan. Although I admire his prolific ability to write original material and be successful, I also think he has suffered from making too many films and choosing quantity over quality. But Annie Hall and Manhattan are both magnificent studies of human relationships, exemplary to Woody Allen's innate filmmaking skills.

In Annie Hall, Allen charts the ups and downs of the relationship between Alvy Singer, a stand-up comic living in Manhattan (the thinnest veil of himself he’s ever written), and an effervescent up-and-coming singer, Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). In Manhattan, Allen leads the four-person ensemble of characters/friends and the complexities of their relationships. After his second divorce with his ex (Meryl Streep), Isaac Davis (Allen) finds himself in a relationship with a 17-year-old (Mariel Hemingway). His best friend, Yale (Michael Murphy), though married, has an affair with the slightly psychologically damaged Mary (Diane Keaton), who eventually falls for Isaac, thus disrupting his friendship with Yale.

Stylistically, the two films couldn’t be more dissimilar. In Annie Hall Allen applies a distinctly flashy and unconventional narrative technique, including quick flash cuts to Alvy’s inner thoughts. The most memorable, perhaps, is the quick insert shot of Alvy as an orthodox rabbi eating dinner with Annie’s waspy parents. The entire film is filled with these clever editorial innovations, including talking directly to camera, subtitles expressing the characters’ unspoken subtext and split-screen conversations.

Manhattan is classical in style, subdued and mature, visualized under a slick anamorphic black and white visual palette. If anything, it resembles something Francois Truffaut or Billy Wilder might have shot in the ‘60s. Allen also lets his other actors command the screen, whereas Annie Hall could be seen as a narrative expression of his stand-up act, like Seinfeld. There’s a distinct naturalism to the narrative in Manhattan, but it doesn’t sacrifice its dreamy-romantic, optimistic and cinematic finale. Annie Hall’s trajectory is mostly downward, an anti-romance with Allen himself left holding our sympathy.

Allen takes his character to task in Manhattan, at first unceremoniously dumping Mariel Hemingway’s character so he can get with Diane Keaton. This causes his need for repentance and reconciliation in the rom-com-worthy finale scene. In Annie Hall, Allen always seems to be the victim to the chase of Annie's enigmatic personality.

Interestingly, both films were shot by the great Gordon Willis (the Prince of Darkness!), famous for shooting The Godfather films. But here he shows remarkable range in accommodating the two different tones of these two films. Annie Hall, shot with natural light, is also quick and mobile. Manhattan’s stark black and white, combined with the delicious Gershwin music, evokes a romantic and more classically cinematic tone.

Both films are terrific, funny and moving, as well as profound examinations of adult relationships. Whichever film one prefers, the resonance of both is enhanced by the differences from the other, demonstrating Allen’s great ability to experiment and innovate within his beloved medium.

Annie Hall and Manhattan are available from MGM Home Entertainment.

CANNES 2011 - Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris (2011) dir. by Woody Allen
Starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard and Michael Sheen.

**1/2

By Blair Stewart

I had a dear old friend so hung up on the past that not one conversation went by without him whining about his disgust at being born 40 years too late. Music back then had a genuine animal strut to it; revolution applied to politics instead of a buzzword used for the latest flavours of Coke; early Godard was a genius instead of the cranky old hermit he is now. In hindsight, that friend depressed the hell out of me, and as his time-displacement dilemma is central to Midnight in Paris, I hope my old mate watches Allen's latest when it's released. But he'll likely complain about the cost of tickets nowadays.

The old spoilt trollop that is Paris is given more praise, as Woody Allen eavesdrops on neuroses along the Seine, and his camera professes love for her streets while conveniently overlooking the banlieues. On holiday with his fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams), and her ugly American in-laws, Gil (Owen Wilson), a milquetoast scriptwriter, is overcome by the nostalgia of the city's belles-lettres heyday of Stein, Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

Making a midnight jaunt to avoid his fiancée’s faux-intellectual admirer (Michael Sheen), Allen nicks from his own Purple Rose of Cairo, as Gil strolls into a 1920s phantasmagorical Madame Tussaud's exhibit where he can hobnob with his dead heroes (Cole Porter, T.S. Eliot, the Surrealists) until the tourist needs to wake up to the present or before Ernie H. gets too drunk and punchy. Gil's dallying is complicated by the arrival of Picasso's fetching muse played by Marion Cotillard as a gal most folks would happily build a time-bending DeLorean for.

As is the case with his recent, too-kind travelogues of Barcelona and London, Woody Allen portrays Paris in the kindest light possible and doesn't upset his own aesthetic applecart at all – faint praise for a comedy that has a couple of smart jokes sprung from characters that, in order to get belly laughs, thankfully lack a) cheap profanity and b) sexual depravity.

Midnight in Paris is a mostly enjoyable, though slightly forgettable, work by Allen, not surprising as the last great film he's made goes back to the previous decade, 1999's Sweet and Lowdown. Back to his Bottle Rocket roots, Owen Wilson is as likable as always, Corey Stoll does Hemingway justice, and Marion Cotillard is the charming quasi-ingénue as all heck.

If anything, Midnight is worth seeing for Adrien Brody's small but fantastic turn in one of the more memorable bits of screen-thievery in recent years.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) dir. Woody Allen
Starring: Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Gemma Jones, Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto, Antonio Banderas

**1/2

By Alan Bacchus

There’s nothing to really dislike about this picture, but the fact it’s Woody Allen and another film in a mostly continuous string of forgettable features in the past 15 years or so, it's a mostly frustrating film to watch.

If Woody Allen’s name weren’t on this picture, I might have thought this was an extended episode of some HBO television show. Certainly nothing big screen worthy or even remotely comparable to his body of work in the 70’s and 80’s.

Woody’s warring couple in this one is Sally and Roy Channing. Sally (Watts) an underachieving art curator who’s recent got her foot in the door getting coffee and lunch for an esteemed Museum director (Banderas), Roy (Brolin), her hubby, is a self-centred failed author who desperately needs his latest book to find a publisher. There’s also Sally’s mother and father Helena (Jones)and Alfie (Hopkins), recently separately and both silently competing with the each other to move on with their lives.

As the title suggests, each of the characters will find new love, which will test the inner moral fortitude of each of the characters. For Roy, he becomes smitten with a young gal living in an adjacent building, Sally is tempted by the flirtations of her boss, Alfie starts dating a prostitute after showering her with lavish gifts and poor Helena, jealous of Alfie’s arm candy, finds the most promising love affair after drowning her sorrows in the false hope of a fortune teller.

This is a phoned-in film, Woody fails to truly put his characters through the ringer like he did in his far and away best picture in 15 years, Match Point, wherein Allen puts Jonathan Rhys-Meyers through excrutiatingly painful journey of love, sex and murder, Roy and Alfie only receive a light dusting.

It’s the usual whimsical tone of Allen here, dramatic conflict and humour in equal amounts, but light as air, and ultimately unexceptional and unmemorable. The best character is Roy, played with delight by Josh Brolin, who proves he can do just about anything right now. He’s a classic Allen character, egotistical but wholly juvenile and subject to the whims of his libido. His career trajectory provides a rather fun punchline to his shameless actions against his poor and suffering wife – a devious black comedic moment which reminds us of the only inspired moment of the past 15 years of Woody, the treachery of Rhys-Meyers in Match Point. If Woody mined the drama and suspense from Roy’s final moment he could have had a movie on par with Match Point.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is available on Blu-Ray and DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) dir. Woody Allen
Starring Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Javier Bardem Penelope Cruz

Guest review by Blair Stewart

***

Amongst his salty New York bagels and a recent over praised English stew now sits this light and breezy Spanish tapas from Woody Allen, his 40th recipe.

Two emotionally naive American beauties played by Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall are spending their summer holidays in one of the Mediterranean's wonderments, Barcelona. Vicky (Hall) is bright, cautious, analytical about all things barring her styrofoam yuppie fiance and a questionable major in Catalan studies. Cristina (Johansson) is an impulsive 'artist' without a canvas who swoons for love without a definite grasp on the concept or the effort required. We follow them past postcards of Barcelona – the Park Guell by Gaudi, Las Ramblas, the church of Santa Maria del Mar - that reinforce why there isn't a "Vicky Cristina Calgary" in cinemas right now.

One night out on the town they are propositioned by the avant-guard Spanish painter Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) to join him on his plane to Oviedo for experienced sightseeing and experienced group sex. Vicky is predictably mortified by the idea and Cristina is receptive to the opportunity.

What follows is a deft love triangle with floating partners that ensnares Vicky's future husband and Juan's sexy, unhinged ex played with murderous zeal by Penelope Cruz. The action is narrated throughout by a Woody stand-in as the desires of the two friends become muddled under heat, a storytelling choice that distracted me from a wafer-thin plot with its wry, cynical amusement.

As one of the leads, Rebecca Hall stands out as excellent casting. She has the intelligence and beauty of a young Julia Roberts, and as the film's bittersweet anchor, features in a great moment with Bardem as he picks away at her defences. I've spent some time now trying to remember her last notable role, and it was her yeoman's work in Nolan's "The Prestige" as Christian Bale's cursed spouse. I now wish I could invest stock in her.

Oddly, Scarlett Johansson is perfect in the other lead despite my disappointment in how her career has developed since "Lost in Translation". Cristina is externally smart and internally vacant, a lifetime of "Um, yeah, that sounds cool..." ahead of her, which I fear is the same fate for Scarlett. The role then is tailored to her strength's and Scarlett performs it well.

Avoiding potential clichés, Javier Bardem is great as a wounded cupid, the crass opportunist or the Lothario painter. From scene-to-scene, our sympathy for him remains on unsteady ground.

Like a crash landing from 1980's Almodovar, the arrival of Penelope Cruz as the wildcard midway through energizes the film. She has genuine chemistry with Bardem, and is both scary and funny enough to reinforce my belief that she should never handcuff herself with another dull English language gig.

It’s a stretch that several characters would be smitten with Cristina beyond her attractiveness, the Spaniards are all predictably firery and the Americans clueless, but the breezy pacing of Woody Allen makes me feel like a jerk to dwell upon negatives. As with a well-made tapas, it might not be filling, but it can be very tasty and raise your anticipation for the main course. Vicky Cristina Palermo, perhaps?

“Vicky Cristina Barcelona” is available on DVD from Alliance Films in Canada on January 27

CELEBRITY

Celebrity (1998) dir. Woody Allen
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Winona Ryder, Melanie Griffth, Leonardo Di Caprio, Judy Davis

**

You may remember the great hype “Celebrity” received, buoyed by the superstrata stardom of post-Titanic Leonardo Di Caprio. He was top billed in the film’s lead up, only to disappoint the fans with a mere 10mins of screen time. The disappointment with "Celebrity" is more deeply rooted than Di Caprio mis-marketed appearance though. In fact, Leo has the best scenes in the film. No, the problem lies with Mr. Allen himself who lazily places Kenneth Branagh in a role clearly intended for himself, but doesn't allow the actor to take the film to the level his talent is capable of.

Kenneth Branagh is the lead, playing Lee Simon, a hack journalist living through a midlife crisis. Lee feels the best part of his life has passed him by, “fucking blink and you're 40, you blink again and you can see movies at half price on a senior citizen's pass.” Deep down though, he wants to sleep with more women (a common Woody Allen dilemma). And so Simon separates from his wife Robin (Judy Simon) and begins to date a number of hot women whom he meets via his celebrity-crossing job.

There’s Melanie Griffith, a married actress who “depends on the kindness of strangers” and who’s only off limits 'below the waste - everything above is fair game'. There’s Charlize Theron, a supermodel, who is attracted to Lee’s Aston Martin more than him. There’s Winona Ryder, a movie extra, but someone who has remained close to his heart despite refusing to be monogamous. Leonardo Di Caprio, despite the screentime, makes a memorable cameo as an actor as big as himself who abuses his girlfriend (note for Adrian Grenier who plays a member of his “Entourage”)

As mentioned Kenneth Branagh acts like Woody Allen playing, well, Woody Allen. Arguably Allen’s presence in his own films, especially as the sole protagonist, is a cumbersome weight to carry. Like Jerry Seinfeld, Woody doesn’t play a character, he plays himself. I welcome the non-Woody Allen acted films because it gives us a chance to watch the talented writer/director unencumbered by his non-abilities as an actor. And so, to be forced to watch Branagh act like Allen is just a waste of talent and it taints the entire film.

“Celebrity” is shot in beautiful black and white by Sven Nykist. And as Lee roams the nighttime streets encountering the weird and wonderful supporting characters along the way we’re reminded of Marcello’s journey in “La Dolce Vita”. Something Allen should get more credit for is his skills as a visual stylist. Whether it's influenced by a European classic or a completely new concept he's also supremely skilled at changing his visual style to suit his material.

But at best there’s only about four stand alone scenes of interest – Di Caprio’s star-powered meltdown, Charlize Theron’s teasing, an awkward break-up scene in Famke Jansson’s apartment in front of the moving help and a demonstration of oral sex by Bebe Neuworth. But Allen’s attempt to disguise his personal neuroses under our noses in the form of Kenneth Branagh is a tired and lazy characterization and reduces much of the comic potential in every other scene.

By the nature of it’s title, the film purports to be about celebrity. Allen never unifies his story with a theme other than Lee’s personal crisis. But of course, it’s Allen’s crisis, not Lee’s, which is just excruciating.

“Celebrity” has been repackaged along with six other Allen films from the 90’s by Alliance Films.