Manhattan (DVD)

Manhattan was first released in 1979 and is one of the most famous and iconic films in the career of director, writer and actor Woody Allen. The film was shot in black and white with wonderful photography by Gordon Willis. It features Allen as Isaac Davis, a comedy writer involved in a relationship with a girl (Tracey played by Mariel Hemingway) young enough to be his daughter. Complications arise when he decides that his best friend's mistress Mary ...
...and undignified...

Manhattan is perhaps most famous for the iconic opening moments of the film. Agaisnt a series of evocative shots of the New York skyline and accompanied by 'Rhapsody In Blue' by George Gershwin, Isaac attempts to narrate the first lines of a novel he is thinking about writing. After stopping and restarting a few times he finally comes up with "Chapter One. He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Beneath ... more

Manhattan was first released in 1979 and is one of the most famous and iconic films in the career of director, writer and actor Woody Allen. The film was shot in black and white with wonderful photography by Gordon Willis. It features Allen as Isaac Davis, a comedy writer involved in a relationship with a girl (Tracey played by Mariel Hemingway) young enough to be his daughter. Complications arise when he decides that his best friend's mistress Mary (Diane Keaton) would be a more suitable companion in terms of shared interests and age. Meanwhile, his ex-wife Jill (Meryl Streep), now a lesbian, is writing a warts and all book about their time together which Isaac fears will be deeply humiliating and undignified...

Manhattan is perhaps most famous for the iconic opening moments of the film. Agaisnt a series of evocative shots of the New York skyline and accompanied by 'Rhapsody In Blue' by George Gershwin, Isaac attempts to narrate the first lines of a novel he is thinking about writing. After stopping and restarting a few times he finally comes up with "Chapter One. He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Beneath his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat...New York was his town, and it always would be..." Manhattan is of course Woody Allen's most direct love letter to New York. The city is almost like an extra character in the film.

Manhattan is about trying to lead a dcent, worthwhile life amidst all the distractions and temptations of contemporary culture. "No, I didn't read the piece on China's faceless masses, I was checking out the lingerie ads," comments Isaac at one point to illustrate this. Allen uses this film to have several rants agaisnt television and what he believes to be low-brow culture which wastes the time of intelligent people. His ex-wife Jill is writing a candid autobiography which he knows will include details about him that he'd rather not be in the public domain. "Gossip is the new pornography," says his best friend Yale (Michael Murphy).

To Isaac, Jill's book is an example of junk culture. On a similar theme, Diane Keaton's character Mary is established as highly intelligent and brainy but is forced to write novelisations of film screenplays in order to earn a living. This is another depressing waste of time and talent to Isaac. Mary still has time though to trash the likes of F Scott Fitzgerald and Mahler in her fictitious 'Academy Of The Overrated', much to the annoyance of Isaac.

Isaac believes people like this should be more widely enjoyed and revered in a society that is sinking towards the lowest common denominater. Isaac is involved in a form of rubbish himself at the start of the film, writing comedy skits for television. He quits to write a great novel, commenting that people sit in front of their tv sets while "Gamma rays eat the white cells of their brains out."

Essentially, Manhattan is a very stylish helping of the usual upscale intellectual types that frequent Allen films getting into love triangles, visiting museums, having existential conversations and arguments and namedropping cultural giants of the past. It's a little bit colder than some other Allen films but it does have some delightful moments and, as you would expect, some funny lines. There are some wonderful scenes that stand out, besides the glorious montage that begins the film.

One such moment occurs when Isaac and Mary visit Central Park and the black and white photography conjures up magical images of them having whispered conversations in silhouette at a Planetarium. "I had a mad impulse to throw you down on the lunar surface and commit interstellar perversion," says Isaac to Mary afterwards. The film really does look beautiful at times.

I thought Diane Keaton did an excellent job in the film. Keaton's character is first disliked by Isaac and comes across as arrogant. Gradually, Isaac decides he was wrong and wants her to be with him. Keaton, who is almost impossible to dislike, does actually manage to make you almost forget she's Diane Keaton in Manhattan as the confident, high IQ Mary Wilkes. You dislike her at first and then start to see why Isaac warms to her. It's a very skilful performance by Keaton.

Mariel Hemingway is effective enough as Tracey. Woody Allen has fun with the exasperated responses Isaac gives when Tracey proves to be completely in the dark regarding his cultural references and heroes. Isaac realises that Tracey is from another generation and doubts start to creep in. "She's 17. I'm 42 and she's 17," says Isaac. "I'm older than her father, can you believe that? I'm dating a girl, wherein, I can beat up her father." But Tracey's genuine, innate goodness is a quality that is increasingly hard to find in the modern world. You can find echoes of JD Salinger and F Scott Fitzgerald in Manhattan.

Meryl Streep has a few scenes as Isaac's ex-wife Jill, looking remarkably young and glamorous. "God, that must have been really demoralizing," says Mary to Isaac when she learns that Jill left him for another woman. "I thought I took it rather well under the circumstances," replies Isaac. "I tried to run them both over with a car." Other members of the cast include the dependable Michael Murphy as Isaac's best friend and rival for Mary and the always watchable Wallace Shawn (from The Princess Bride and My Dinner With Andre) as Mary's ex-husband. Shawn's character is built up by Mary as a brilliant giant of a man with great sex appeal. The short, bald Shawn was cast by Allen as a joke to subvert expectations. "It's amazing how subjective this stuff is," says Isaac musing on attraction.

Ultimately the film is about the struggle not to compromise or sell out in the modern world. And of course about the difficulty of finding the right person for you. Someone who is tune with you and someone you can trust. So in Manhattan you get some interesting Allen ruminations on modern society plus a nice old fashioned love triangle. It's slighter than some other Allen films but the cold, reflective black and white photograhy makes the film taller and a joy just to watch at times.

With Manhattan, Allen said he wanted to make an intimate, talky film in the style of the b/w, widescreen war films he watched growing up. The result was one of his most famous and iconic films and a couple of Oscar nominations. His own view? Allen, his own biggest critic, apparently was so dismayed by the finished film he begged United Artists not to release it!

Overall, Manhattan is a stylish and enjoyable experience. It's not quite in my top tier of Allen films because it seems a little colder and more clinical than other pictures he has directed, with less laugh out loud moments.

But compared to modern romantic comedy/drama, Manhattan is hard to beat.

Woody Allen has no interest in DVD extras so don't expect much beyond a trailer. 

...less