Annie Hall Review

I remember seeing this movie in Manhattan after living abroad for six years.

I was about to go to college in California.

Annie Hall was Woody Allen’s breakthrough movie.

A romantic comedy in 3D that explores the dance of lovers from multiple angles with a dizzying parade of cinematic and narrative techniques.

The fourth wall, voice-over narration, split screens, cartoons, and hilarious flashbacks in which the characters in the present see their characters in the past acting and even talking to them.

This elastic use of space and time was charming, subtle, and hysterical.

What can I say?

The neurotic Jewish intellectual and the WASPY shiksa ditz have an endearing chemistry.

Diane Keaton and Woody Allen delivered command performances that accelerated their artistic careers.

Many of Seinfeld’s comedy ideas are road-tested here.

I admit that my own multiplex YouTube comedy also has strong roots in this movie.

What more?

The contrast between the cultures of the East Coast and the West Coast of America is relentlessly parodied.

Woody Allen takes no prisoners here.

Yes, his heart is completely attached to New York City, the first true love of his life.

But Hollywood has forgiven Woody Allen and flung him a few Oscars.

Let’s cheer loudly for “ Annie Hall”.

It’s still my favorite Woody Allen movie — and it should be yours too