esrosedotblog

ANNIE HALL(1979)

Today's movie: NYT1000Best; a perfect gem of a film. I had forgotten how funny and innovative this was; a re-revelation. It got four Oscars: Picture, Director, Actress (Diane Keaton of course), and Screen Play.

It is not hard to remember how we used to wait for an Allen film. They used to roll out about every nine to twelve months and, in Boston, were shown at the same theater; The Paris on Boylston Street. The lines formed outside on opening day and stayed for a week or two; often more on weekends. It is harder to remember when the lines quit forming and the familiar routine of self examination grew stale. This later knowledge of Allen's life and oeuvre does not detract from pure joy and happiness at watching this early film.

He is so close to himself; Alvie Singer is Woody. Anyone who wonders if his work is autobiography would have missed this one. It is all there; it sets the stage for many to come; even some of the actors he used over and over are in it.

The theme, of course, is intellectual angst and self absorption. It is a joke that is turned back on the audience; for to understand what is going on, one has to be at least a moderate intellectual with enough free floating anxiety to identify. We are all in the movie. This film also has Allen's first swipe at the west coast; a lot of us eastern-escapees are in the film too. The cars and reflected glare of the sun; the palette; the attitude. He does nail it and will return to it again in later films.

I am talking too much. The film is just flat ass funny and wonderful. Always surprising; flash backs, talk to the audience, split screens, walk-outs from the story line. I give it a 5 on the Netflix 5scale.