Review of Manhattan (1979) by Grant S — 12 Aug 2016
Isaac (Woody Allen) is a twice-divorced 42-year old TV screenwriter, dating a 17-year old girl, Tracy (Mariel Hemingway). His best friend is Yale (Michael Murphy) who is married to Emily (Anne Byrne Hoffman) and is having an affair with Mary (Diane Keaton). Isaac finds himself drawn to Mary and when Yale and Mary split up, they start seeing each other. Things seem to be going swimmingly, but...
Okay but not overly engaging, interesting or profound. Really just a romantic-drama, and nothing more. The clever humour which usually typifies Woody Allen movies is very few and far between and what there is generally doesn't quite have the some intelligence and zing as his usual stuff.
So that just leaves it as a drama, and, as mentioned, it's just a romantic drama, so nothing too profound can come from it. There are some decent intrigues to sustain the movie, but that is about it.
The 42-year-old-with-17-year-old was also a bit creepy. This aspect of the movie seemed to be explained well and the issue gotten past, but then the conclusion wrecks that. Very unsatisfactory ending, and undoes a lot of the progress that came before it.
On the plus side, there were some good jabs at the pretentiousness of New York society. The cinematography is great too: filmed in black and white with some wonderful, loving, lingering shots of New York skylines and landmarks.
Can't fault the performances either. Woody Allen does what he does best - playing himself. Diane Keaton is the pick of the bunch as the intelligent, over-analysing, knowingly-beautiful, self-obsessed Mary. Meryl Streep, in only her third feature film (her second was The Deer Hunter), is great in a supporting role.
This review of Manhattan (1979) was written by Grant S on 12 Aug 2016.
Manhattan has generally received very positive reviews.
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