Forgive me if I come off a bit cranky here, but I'll admit it: the 10th anniversary of the atrocity of September 11, 2001 has weighed heavily upon me. Living and working in the shadow of the great city, it is the "go-to" place for everything new, better, delicious, glamorous, beautiful and fun. It still is that place, but like a beautiful person who sustained a life-threatening injury, the scar remains.
Maybe there have been good movies that tell this story, but I haven't seen them. It's only natural that this story should be told on film, but frankly, I couldn't bear to watch it. Instead, I opted to spend some time today watching the most beautiful love letter to New York: Woody Allen's 1979 masterpiece, "Manhattan."
The Sights of Manhattan
Filmed in beautiful black and white, Allen and cinematographer Gordon Willis capture the fearsome, romantic beauty of the city in 1979.
The Music
The music is a major character in this film and Gershwin is the perfect choice, hands down. You can take your pick of the greatest composer of that golden era: Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein - but Gershwin personifies the sound of New York. Rhapsody in Blue? All of the romance, ambition, pressure, energy and dreams of a city in one musical piece.
The Characters
Woody Allen: Issac Davis - neurotic nucleolus of a bunch of other neurotics. Issac is a writer who loves Manhattan, jazz and the wrong women.
Diane Keaton: Mary Wilkie - lover of Issac's best friend, Issac's lover and nutty to the core (in her own delightful way, of course). The scenes of their short-lived romance (running in the rain to the planetarium, sitting at the foot of the 59th Street Bridge) are among Woody's best and most touching.
Michael Murphy: Yale - Woody's professor friend and cheating husband. His midlife crisis propels him towards a mistress and a sports car.
Meryl Streep: Jill - Woody's lesbian ex-wife who writes an embarrassing tell-all book about their marriage. Meryl is hilarious and quite beautiful here.
Mariel Hemingway: Tracy - the 17-year old adult who outgrows Issac. Tracy is the heart of this story and much too mature for those "adults" who love to manufacture problems because the real problems are just to horrible to face.
There is that disturbing premonition of the attraction to the young girl. Well, to hell with it. Chaplin had the same hang-up and I can't let it stop me from loving him.
Finally
I really don't care what Woody has done in his private life and I am tired of hearing it. If we limit ourselves to the work of artists who live morally exemplary lives, we'd only be listening to Pat Boone and watching - well, no one. As long as he doesn't eat babies or become a Nazi, I will follow Woody's every move as an artist. He is now making his Rome movie and I will be one of the first on line to see it, as I was with "Match Point," "Vicky Christina Barcelona," and the fabulous "Midnight in Paris." But, Woody, seriously, it's been too long. Come home.
I really don't care what Woody has done in his private life and I am tired of hearing it. If we limit ourselves to the work of artists who live morally exemplary lives, we'd only be listening to Pat Boone and watching - well, no one. As long as he doesn't eat babies or become a Nazi, I will follow Woody's every move as an artist. He is now making his Rome movie and I will be one of the first on line to see it, as I was with "Match Point," "Vicky Christina Barcelona," and the fabulous "Midnight in Paris." But, Woody, seriously, it's been too long. Come home.
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