Film: Annie Hall (1977)

I only saw Annie Hall for the first time two months ago. Most times I wouldn't watch a film again so soon, preferring to watch new stuff when possible, but I really need to for an essay I'm currently writing. So, here it is (again): Woody Allen's breakthrough movie, and that incredibly rare thing, an Oscar-winning comedy.

I have a slightly different perspective on it this time round, for two reasons. Firstly, back when I first saw this the only other Allen film I'd seen was Match Point, a brilliant thriller but totally unlike most of his other work. Now I've seen a further four films, giving me a much broader view of his oeuvre. Secondly, I'm watching it very much with my essay in mind, which is all about the analysis of urban rhythms. I'll try not to let anything too pretentious seep into this review.

To be honest, I'm not sure how much difference the first perspective shift makes. First time round I was aware how much this exemplified the cliches of an Allen movie, and while he can clearly manage a lot more than those (and do so very well), I still wouldn't care to say for sure if this is the originator of the cliches or just a prime example. It doesn't really matter anyway: what's important is that Annie Hall is both very funny (always a noteworthy feat for a comedy on repeated viewing) and also very insightful -- not in a preachy-therefore-dull way, importantly, but it is (for want of a better way of expressing it) a comedy set in the real world.

Allen manages to balance the drama of the main storyline (the relationship between his character, Alvy Singer, and the titular Annie Hall) with the jokes, so that both feel natural together. The flashbacks, monologues to camera, animated interlude, and various other third-wall-breaking techniques are very self conscious, but then so is all of Allen's filmmaking -- he's essentially playing himself in something that is, to at least some degree, autobiographical. This may be what enables the film to feel so real and so impossibly funny at the same time ("impossible" because it's the sort of humour we all wish we were capable of on the spot, but know we'd only think of later, at best).

One thing disappointing me this time is the quality of the transfer. Allen isn't big on the additional benefits of DVD, in a way several other older filmmakers aren't -- he's of the school of "the film speaks for itself", so there are no extras on his films (beyond trailers) and certainly no commentary. (I rather suspect this will change at some point after his death, as it has with directors such as Kubrick, with inevitable re-issues on whatever format is around then providing some retrospective things. But that's another issue.) But, obviously, the transfer is part of the film, and here it seems bizarrely blurred at the top & bottom (not always noticeable, but I keep spotting it) and with a fair number of glaring faults here and there. Ultimately it doesn't ruin the film, as some truly dreadful transfers can, but it was distracting enough for me to mention it.