Manhattan (1979)

This movie depicts a dark, somber, chilling New York City, a place in which light is starkly offset by shadows. This sets the mood for the story about a man who is wants happiness but fails to find it. Nothing he does brings him joy. He hates his job, gest involved in hopelessly morbid relationships, deceives himself into believing that his so-called friends actually care about him, and is incapable of showing real anger. He feels rage but cannot let it out. Instead he directs his rage against himself by repeatedly putting himself in social situations in which he allows others to humiliate him. Now, what makes this movie so wacky is that it is billed as a comedy. This movie is supposed to be funny, clever, witty and arguably Woody Allen's best movie. This dark movie is anything but funny. The main character, Isaac, played by Allen, is suffering. Isaac is so lacking in self-esteem and so determined to punish himself for wanting to be happy that he gets involved with a high school girl. And the moment the girl indicates she cares for him, he pushes her away. Only belatedly does he realize what he has done, but by that time it is too late. he has lost her. He suffers another rejection from a woman who is the mistress of his married best friend. Isaac deludes himself into believing that this woman, who is fickle and emotionally flighty, cares about him. When he shows that he cares about her, she dumps him. She is utterly incapable of commitment. But the worst blow to Isaac's already shredded ego occurs when he is forced to realize that his best friend, Yale, the one person who Isaac believes really cares about him as a human being, and who Isaac idolizes, is a self-centered narcissist who uses people. And remember: this is supposed to be a comedy. Where is Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello when we need them? The thing about this movie that makes it so unique is that it attempts to present self-loathing as a form of humor. One cannot help but feel sympathy for Isaac who really deserves better treatment. But to call this comedy is a bit of a stretch.

Actually I'm disappointed because the movie didn't answer a lot of question, such as:* How on earth the tone slips so gracefully between the gut-busting one-liners and emotionally exhausting romantic moments like that?* How can a black-and-white film still be considered as one of the most beautiful movies ever with its gorgeous cinematography?* How can a 96 min film has such character development? * How can a single quote make a lot of change to the characters and the story itself?* How can a soundtrack that features only the rhythms of songs can speak for the hero at every stage he get through? * How can a movie this complex and presents messages about love and loss seems to be so simple that can be rewatched. .... and many more questions left unanswered. Mariel Hemingway performance is phenomenal! Hands down one of the smartest and most subtle screenplays ever written!By far, Manhattan is the best Woody Allen movie. By the way, I'm a big fan of Annie Hall.(10/10)

My main objection to this film is that I just cannot accept Woody Allen as a desirable lover. I think he's ugly and that the character he portrays is highly unsympathetic. However, this doesn't seem to worry most people who have seen the film and thoroughly enjoyed it. The boys seem to feel that if Woody Allen can make it with the girls, there's hope for them too, and the girls seem to argue that Woody is such a mental giant and such a celebrity it would be an honor to be seen in his company!Once you accept the romantic scenes as perfectly natural and even desirable, and once you accept the Woody Allen character as the sympathetic hero he obviously wants you to accept him as, then the whole film falls into place and you laugh at all the jokes and you become emotionally involved in all the situations and you identify with the hero in his battles against the other characters and against the city itself. Identification completed, the Gershwin music, the skilfully framed, large screen, black and white photography, and the playing by all the other members of the cast (particularly Michael Murphy, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep and Mariel Hemingway) is then meshed by writer/director Allen into a very satisfying and entertaining whole. But I just cannot accept Woody Allen that way. I like him the way he was in "Bananas" and "A Walk with Love and Death" or even "Play It Again Sam" — the perennial fall guy!

Found this to be dead self indulgent and really boring. Woody Allen is a neurotic 40-something, having a fling with a 17 year old girl. Dumps her, dates a woman his age, she dumps him and he goes running back to his 17 year old girl. Pointless and dull and I didn't like a single character.Also, the cinematography, as great as it was, was not suited to the subject matter. It needed naturalistic lighting but it looked like a film noir. For me, it didn't work as the visual tone was in conflict with the tone of the subject matter.I've seen much better Woody Allen films. I've seen some poor ones but this is probably my least favourite of his. I can't help but wonder how this film has achieved such critical acclaim and such a high score on IMDb.