I was worried. Worried that my experience of seeing Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979) for the first time in a long time would tarnish how it existed in my memory. And worried that Allen’s subsequent inconsistency as a film-maker would also colour how I viewed Manhattan this time around. As if some of his later films were dragging Manhattan down off its lofty pedestal.
But I needn’t have worried. From the opening montage of stunning black and white shots of New York over a Gershwin soundtrack, I loved the film all over again. And was even more impressed by its precision and economy of storytelling, right from the intro when every shot is held for just the right length of time so that we can take in what it’s showing, before cutting to the next New York vista.
And I was struck by how fresh and funny Allen’s one-liners still were, they just reel off his tongue so naturally in this film. To paraphrase one, this is what Allen says to Diane Keaton in a taxi: “you look so wonderful I can hardly keep my eye on the meter”. Brilliant. And there also great visual gags, like when he puts his hand in the water during a romantic rowing boat ride, only for his hand to……well, you have to see it.
It’s a film that demands to be seen at the cinema, in all its widescreen glory. Never has Allen composed shots so artfully as in this film. And it has one of his finest endings, indeed one of the great ambiguous endings in all cinema.
Yes, this film – I quite liked it.