Manhattan

Manhattan didn't awaken bursts of laughter in me, rather it impressed me with its highly intellectual and sophisticated script, in which, paradoxically, I didn't understand much of the dialogue at all. The plot is neither complicated nor unorthodox, it is simply a story from life. The cast was really perfect, especially Diane Keaton and Mariel Hemingway. I liked the music, which reminded me terribly of the atmosphere of the music clubs and entertainment venues of the first half of the 20th century. A typically conversational Woody Allen, who, although he doesn't wow or burst your diaphragm with laughter, nevertheless captivates and puts a smile on your face. (23/07/2013)

Manhattan is considered by film critics as one of the most important and highest-quality films by Allen, but to be honest, it didn't impress me as much for a simple reason. It concentrates on all the main and favorite motifs of Allen's work - emotionally unstable intellectuals, the city of New York, favorite music, criticism of intellectual snobbery, loneliness, unfulfilled romantic desires, and nostalgia. Because I saw Manhattan later than many of Woody's other films (and there were quite a few of them due to his overproduction), those previous films played a more significant role for me. Not to mention that I appreciate the much more comedic early Allen or the late experimenting version of him. In Manhattan, there are certainly classic Allen slapstick tones, but the motif of sadness and nostalgia is much stronger in the form when family relationships were far more understandable and stronger, divorces and custody battles were exceptional, and people were closer to each other. Of the two fateful women in Woody Allen's life, I like Diane Keaton much more than Mia Farrow, but even that didn't get Allen a fourth star this time, even though everyone in the film delivers honest acting work. Finally, the greatest impression is made by the black-and-white cinematography and the dreamlike photographic scenes of the nocturnal panorama of Manhattan and the most famous New York architectural wonders, as well as similarly shot scenes of the connection between the two tragic protagonists of this sad love story. Overall impression: 65%. (01/09/2011)

It's not better than the two best Allen films I've seen so far (i.e. Annie Hall and Zelig), but it's still very good. I didn't want to burst out laughing or be particularly moved by Manhattan, whereas the film felt rather very authentic, believable and like (as much as I dislike the phrase, I have to use it again now) real life. And in addition to a number of irresistible dialogues, it contains a beautiful scene in a planetarium and a wonderful declaration of love: "You're like God's answer to Job. He would say: I do a lot of terrible things, but I can still make one of these." I'll give it four and a bit. (24/01/2014)

Woody Allen is in excellent form, but it's almost annoying how much he fixates on New York and its beauty. It's almost like propaganda at times. However, his dialogues flow like poetry, they are properly impactful and thanks to him, they are delivered perfectly. You simply can't come up with some of his lines. The use of black and white is definitely an interesting step. (20/11/2015)

First, Woody Allen clumsily picked the mistress in the form of a 17-year-old masculine woman, who looks more like a boy from a cornfield than like an underage girl from Manhattan, and then he decided to bombard me with a few unrelated texts, which were actually supposed to make sense in the context of his way of life. The result is such that I actually found out that in Manhattan at the end of the 1970s they had tap water as rusty as the freshest beer from a local tavern and that girls sought out boys who could talk about art for 20 minutes straight in an ostentatiously dull manner. An interesting movie, but I cannot say that it impressed me all that much. (10/11/2015)