From the Shelf: Annie Hall (1977, Woody Allen)
Acquired: A long time ago. Probably 2001 or 2002.
Seen before?: A couple of times, the last time off this DVD… um, a long time ago.
Looking at it from a remove of twenty years, I think the reason that Woody’s big artistic breakthrough was as successful as it was is that, in the context of the work that had already come, it does seem like a different breed - more serious, honest, realistic. And yet, given what was to come, it’s really not as big a break as it probably looked. The fingerprints of the “early funny” Woody are still all over this film. Annie Hall may not be as out-and-out ridiculous as Bananas, and amusing fourth-wall flourishes like the subtitle scene might be playing in service to genuine emotion rather than for their own hilarious sake. Yet, in the context of a supposedly-serious work, you still have a short animated sequence and a little girl saying, “I’m into leather,” in flashback. There’s still corny shtick like the famed cocaine scene and Woody’s repurposing of old stand-up material into the script (“I once took a puff of the wrong cigarette at a party…”). There’s still the terrific Marshall McLuhan fantasy sequence. Basically, this is a textbook example of how a comedic figure can “mature” while still holding onto what made him popular in the first place.
Now, just imagine how much different modern cinema would look if Allen had followed the lead of many a comedic actor and made the shift more radical, if he had left Annie Hall off the menu. Imagine a world where we jump straight from Love and Death to Interiors.
Up next: A year in Old Italy…
