In the last couple of posts I've discussed the dying days of comedies being nominated for Oscars and in this year's nominations I'll be surprised to see at least one broad comedy. Comedies now have to either have an indie vibe to them or be some sort of riotous romp in the fashion of this year's American Hustle. It's sad that in an era where we know exactly what an 'Oscar Film' is there's very little room for the comedy. In fact the last time a comedy film won the Best Picture was over thirty-five years ago.
That film was Woody Allen's Annie Hall, a film that I've previously watched on a number of occasions, which also won a Best Actress Award for Diane Keaton's portrayal of the titular protagonist. The majority of the film centres round the relationship between Annie and Allen's stand-up comedian Alvy Singer. The narrative structure of the film is such that it starts midway through the relationship before taking us back to the time when Alvy and Annie first met. As Annie Hall is a proper romantic comedy it explores the differences between the uptight Alvy and the more free and easy Annie. He overthinks everything while she'd rather go with the flow and this obviously puts a strain on their relationship. Alvy's comic asides also looks back at the character's past whether it be stealing a kiss as a child or his previous marriage everything is put under the microscope. Inevitably, the relationship begins to crumble as Annie begins to look elsewhere for love and finds it briefly with Paul Simon's record producer Tony Lacey. Though this comedy doesn't have a traditional happy ending, it does give you hope for the two characters, that you are more than invested in thanks to Allen's brilliant script.
Annie Hall is often held up as Woody Allen's masterpiece, but in my opinion he's made better films. Obviously part of the reason for the film's success lies with Allen's semi-autobiographical script which oozes with honesty throughout. Despite him creating a fictional character for himself, smarter audience members obviously can draw parallels between Alvy and Allen. Similarly, Diane Keaton has claimed that Annie Hall is incredibly similar to her own personality that Woody got to know on previous films that they worked together on. Due to this fact both Allen and Keaton are superb throughout and add an awkward chemistry to their relationship which makes it utterly realistic. In addition there are some fantastic supporting roles most notably from Tony Roberts as Alvy's friend Rob and then unknown Christopher Walken as Annie's brother Duane. Annie Hall is the perfect length for a comedy film as it's only just over ninety minutes long and the story fits perfectly into this time frame. With most of the character being instantly identifiable, the script being full of pithy one-liners and the cast being unanimously brilliant there's no denying that Annie Hall is a great film. Even though I do think some comedy films since 1977 have possibly deserved the Best Picture award, I'd be happy if Annie Hall got to held up the legacy for what a great comedy film should be.
Next time we look at two nostalgic films that deal with the dying days of adolescence
No comments:
Post a Comment