Self-destruction, love lost, self-realization, and re-development! These are some of the main themes that underscore themselves with-in Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall”. Some say this is his opus or his pinnacle film. “Annie Hall” was my first venture into the works of Woody Allen. With Great anticipation and high hopes, I finally took the plunge and dove into my first glimpse of the film stylings of Woody Allen. Being a neophyte to Allen’s work I took an open mind to what I was about to watch.
As I began to watch this film, I found so many things frustrating about it. They are about personal taste, but this was my opinion. Although, there were many things that I thought made this one of the new Hollywood classics. Making my way though this film at times was hard and incredibly boring. Objectively it wasn’t an entirely boring film, but it seemed pretentious throughout most of it. With great acting at some points there was terrible acting at others. Again, some comedic moments were funny, and others were complete duds. Edging further into the film I began to feel as if the film was over rated and frustrating to follow but not difficult to understand.
So many things made me frustrated about this film. First and foremost, the hard transitions between scenes. Scenes seemed to just change from one point to the other and sometimes with hard relevance. These hard relevance’s have a difficult time making sense. An example of this is the several time’s old-time news reels are inserted into a scene transition. They don’t make a clear correspondence to the scene or the message the director is trying to convey. Chronologically the film is orchestrated well, but the transition again in these parts is hard and abrupt. Making it difficult to follow a smooth line of comprehensive and cohesive story telling. Aside from all this it still shall remain one of the new Hollywood classics from that era.
Styling is one of most notable things about “Annie Hall”. Cinematography, color content, lens choice’s, location and scene choice, were all superb and sublime. Scenes were brilliantly brought to life with a screenplay draped in tropes of new Hollywood. There are two scenes that highlight this brilliance. First are the people watching in the park scene with Woody Allen and Diane Keaton putting silly voices to obscure and odd characters. A hilarious scene shot with great direction, it shows a specific genius. Second is a scene featuring a young Christopher Walken as Annie’s younger brother. This I think is the first scene ever that I have seen with a young Walken starting what I would call a true Walken performance. Truly classic and funny beyond compare, a must see! Although not every scene was amazing, and the dialogue was not always funny or captivating. In fact, it was quite boring.
Various parts seemed pretentious and poorly acted, with equally boring dialogue. In the scene after Alvy first meets Annie and takes a ride home from her, it goes downhill from there. Awkwardness in the scene starts off as soon as both exit the car in front of Annie’s apartment. Unmoving and uninteresting, the conversation awkwardly progresses on. With a poor performance in this scene given by Diane Keaton it was a drudge to get through. Several other scenes have this same lack luster presence in them. Jumping to the other side of the fence, I have to say there are Steller scenes that complement the film very well. Making it difficult at times to decide whether I hated it or loved it.
Being a great film contains so many elements. Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” may not be an epic or colossal film, but it does have some of the makings of being a great film. How great is up for debate. With dull and entertaining moments, funny dialogue and duds, eye catching scenes, maybe it does deserve all the Oscars it won. Who knows really, its all a matter of opinion. However, I would recommend that anyone see it at least once to view a true Woody Allen film. I have to say I am still mixed on the merits of this film’s greatness, but I did enjoy it and will more than likely revisit this film again.
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