There's something Freudian about it © "Manhattan" is the second Woody Allen movie I've seen. And while I'm not very familiar with the director's work yet, I think I'm beginning to feel his handwriting, a certain spirit inherent in his films. What is surprising to me is the combination of two opposite feelings that I feel for the second time after watching Allen’s films – I can’t call him my director (at least not yet), but I admire his work.
Woody Allen created an extremely frank and bold film that plays on contrasts. We see the America of the 70s accompanied by the musical compositions inherent in old Hollywood films, and the film itself is black and white, which also attracts attention. It is presented from the point of view that it is better to feel the city, in love with which the director is recognized. But the advantage of this director’s move is that the focus is exclusively on the characters, their characters, dialogues and monologues, full of ironic jokes, aphorisms and metaphors, which abound in the film, which causes even more interest.
I give you four weeks of my strength.
- I can't look that far.
- Do you think four weeks is far away?
- No...
- That's a lot of foresight. This picture tells about the emotional rushing of Isaac (
Woody Allen), who does not understand what he needs from life, because of what his life is full of difficult relationships with women. Behind his shoulders, he has two unsuccessful marriages, and the second ex-wife, Jill, (
Maryl Streep) is going to bring to the public all the troubles of their family life, and in the present Isaac manages to be in a relationship with a young girl Tracy (
Mariel Hemingway), which, as he himself notes, is suitable for fathers, to have an affair with the former mistress of his friend, Mary (
Dian Keaton). The hero drives himself into a complicated relationship, which is nothing more than the personification of his confused life in general.
Something must be wrong with me, since none of my relationships with a woman lasted longer than Hitler’s with Eva Braun. As mentioned above, the main riot of “colors” falls on bright and memorable replicas of the characters, and sometimes whole dialogues, from which words cannot be thrown out. The film itself is the quintessence of vitality and absurdity. How do those ridiculous, contradictory characters, prone to actions that go against common sense, differ from us, from every viewer sitting in front of the screen, noticing the special comic positions in which the characters please? This film is ironic and even a mockery. And the courage of the story lies precisely in the freedom of speech that the director allows himself. His characters talk easily and effortlessly about intimate and immoral things, philosophize, ranting about the high, sometimes going into pseudo-intellectual monologues, and do not act as “right”, but as they feel.
What do you do, Tracy?
- I'm in school.
- Really? I think Nabokov is laughing somewhere. 9 out of 10
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