4 out of 5

Director: Woody Allen

Whoosh. Well. Living here, the most impactful part of this movie, to me, came from those shots that are about the city. Allen’s narration over the opening footage so perfectly captures the ugly/beautiful indescribable strangeness of Manhattan that, yeah, it nigh brought me to tears. Which is telling: Manhattan is as close to honest as Allen seems to get, letting shots and moments hover for just long enough to cast doubt on what’s being said or seen instead of the dialogue and situations being the main source of comedy or drama. Here we have a story of a 42-yr old TV writer (hey, it’s Allen, who woulda thunk) who is dating a 17 yr old (Hemingway) while going through a bit of a crisis concerning the value of the work he does, then becoming interested in the closer-to-his-age Diane Keaton, who happens to be the woman with whom Allen’s friend (Murphy) is having an affair. That plot is rife with Allen potential, people engaging / disengaging for right or questionable reasons, commentary on life and business, etc. All of that is there. The expected pauses and banter, the references. It’s hilarious, and flirts with the intelligentsia that plagues most of Allen’s work. But what saves it from going to into walled-off neuroses is that haunting beauty that Allen is aiming for by treating the anonymity of the city as the shadow cast over the whole movie. It’s gorgeous. And the moments between characters that broach this same feeling almost make it perfect… before we take a step back and retreat to the safety of rambling and jokes. It would work on a meta level if it seemed… somehow… both more and less intentional. Love that last shot.