Annie Hall
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Annie Hall
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1992.
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Annie Hall is a 1977 American satirical romantic comedy-drama film directed by Woody Allen from a screenplay he co-wrote with Marshall Brickman, and produced by Allen's manager, Charles H. Joffe. The film stars Allen as Alvy Singer, who tries to figure out the reasons for the failure of his relationship with the eponymous female lead, played by Diane Keaton in a role written specifically for her.
Why It Rocks
- This film blended the slapstick and fantasy from such earlier Allen films as Sleeper and Bananas with the more autobiographical musings of his stand-up and written comedy. Annie Hall capitalized on many of the ingredients that had been the content of his earlier films - the subjects of anti-Semitism, life, romantic angst, drugs and death, his obsessive love of New York, his dislike of California (mostly L.A.) fads and intellectual pomposity, his introspective neuroses and pessimism, his requisite jokes and psychosexual frustration about sex, numerous put-downs of his own appearance and personality, and distorted memories of his childhood. Allen's previous films could be characterized as a series of irreverent comic sketches with frequent instances of absurdist humor and slapstick. this urban dramatic comedy on the other hand, his best-loved work, marked a major transition. It was his most successful, deepest, self-reflexive, most elaborate and unified work to that time.
- The film's story structure is a marvel of shifting time spans, digressions and 4th wall breaking. An incident would spark a flashback that's invaded by characters from the present who comment on the action like a Greek chorus.
- The film makes the most of its time with a barrage of asides, one-liners, and taking full advantage of its media form and being a comedy by using various movie techniques such as animation, superimpositions, talking heads, splitscreens, and subtitles and even documentary footage, among other tricks.
- Not only is this film notable for Woody Allen abandoning the safety of broad comedy for something deeper, it's also his first film to fully embrace his personal life, and make use of realistic New York locations, carefully photographed by Gordon Willis.
- In addition to that, the film was a game changer in terms of how certain rom-coms displayed romance, even with all off its humor and cool techniques. For example, the film isn't afraid to skewer 1970s solipsism, and doesn't contain the happy marriage of opposites found in classic screwball comedies. Alvy's and Annie's complicated, often messy relationship is a lot more realistic and down-to-earth, and perfectly willing to display the ugly side of a relationship. It explores the interaction of past and present, and the rise and fall of Allen's own challenging, ambivalent New York romance with his opposite - an equally-insecure, shy, flighty Midwestern WASP female. It's gotten to the point where it's considered one of Allen's most mature and personal films as a neurotic look at life and love.
- Allen captured a nostalgia tinged with melancholy that audiences at the time found endearing. He included them in his jokes even as he mocked their counterparts in the film.
- Woody Allen and Diana Keaton both deliver top-notch portrayals of their characters that manage to become extremely complex and believable. Keaton in particular was solidified as a star.
- Woody Allen's character Alvy Singer is pretty much a fictionalized portrayal of himself. In his stammering but somehow always forward‐pressing way, Allen became the new paradigm of the sexy leading man, a nerd who routed Hollywood’s traditional he‐men. Suddenly wit and sensitivity were what was sexy in a man.
- Keaton as the titular Annie Hall plays against the assertive mannishness Hollywood had previously associated with women dressed as men. Unable to complete a sentence, speaking in self‐deprecating fragments, smiling her way out of the verbal corners she paints herself into with what was to become her trademark “La‐di‐da,” she serves as a foil to Allen's screen persona. It should also be noted that Diane Keaton was Allen's real-life partner for a time.
- On top of Allen and Keaton, Annie Hall gave important breaks to various other performers including Sigourney Weaver, Beverly D'Angelo, Gary Muledeer and tons of other actors.
- The film affected fashion to a surprising degree, turning Keaton's rumpled menswear into a fashion trend -- The "look" was a mis-matched, eclectic conglomeration of men's costuming: 30's style baggy light brown chino pants, an oversized man's white shirt, a dark grey, wide necktie with shiny polka-dot spots, a black waistcoat vest, and a floppy bowler hat.
The Only Bad Quality
- Modern-day viewers will likely not be all that impressed with what the film has to offer, as the film was incredibly influential on American comedy of the last several decades, to the point where it has since became commonplace. Back in 1977, it was very bold and innovative in how it mined humor out of everyday neuroses and mixed irreverence and pathos.
Reception
Reception for the film tended to be mixed overall. Critical reaction ranged from highly negative (i.e. John Simon in the 2 May 1977 issue of New York), to ecstatic (i.e. Andrew Sarris in the 25 Apr 1977 Village Voice), to tepid (i.e. Richard Corliss in the 13 May 1977 issue of New Times). However, despite this, the picture went on to become one of Woody Allen's most popular films.
As of this writing, the film has 97% critic score with 128 votes, and 92% audience score with more than 100,000 votes on Rotten Tomatoes, and an 8.0/10 on IMDb.
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