Manhattan (Oblivious Opinion)

There’s so much going on in this movie that it makes it almost impossible to pinpoint what, exactly, makes it such an incredibly fun movie. Between an excellently written script, marvelous cinematography, and extraordinary acting, it becomes more that just “Woody Allen’s ode to the city he loves,” as so many reviews bill it. This moves more into the realm of perfect representation of the city as a whole, and by extension, the intellectual caste of society in the late 1970s.

The first thing that must be spoken of is the beautiful combination of exquisite Jazz and breathtaking shots of the cityscape of Manhattan. The two of these play off of each other so well, that by then end of the movie, Manhattan, and in a larger part, New York City as a whole becomes the mythical Gotham to which it is sometimes compared. The effect of the black and white filming is that all the locations become less real places and more stark pictures of the ideal metropolis.

It is obvious that Allen is making an homage to the New York of his childhood. Between the lack of color and the lack of modern music, it is easy to see the visualization of a man remembering the city as he first romanticized it in his childhood, an earlier era before Technicolor and Disco. This lends so well to the story, one of man striving to understand what he’s become with age, the classic mid-life crisis.

The crisis manifests in multiple characters throughout the story in different ways, each with its own level of hilarity, inanity, and sad charm. Allen’s character, the almost despicable Isaac, is toying around with an attractive young 17 year old, Yale is having an affair and buying a Porsche, and Mary is trying so desperately to establish her own self worth in the wake of her “genius” ex-husband. It becomes a race to see whose life will melt down first.

The movie also exists on another level. There is the reference to the action that we all do of wondering weather the grass is truly greener. The whole act of Isaac being Rand’s idea of the perfect man and making his decisions based on selfish motivation plays out to the only logical conclusion with him returning whence he came and asking for the hand again of Tracey. This aspect of the plot is what affected me the most, as I’ve spent a large number of my days chasing after something else, only to find out that I don’t want it once I’ve gotten it.

But, what really makes this movie such a classic is the almost superhuman banter and wit that the characters show. The conversations throughout the entire film are ones that make you strive to have a shaper tongue. It is quintessential wit, chased after by every script and achieved by so few that keeps you laughing, but more to yourself, as opposed to blindsiding slapstick, that makes this such a wonderful watch.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuU6XU0_Gfs]