Little epic

Rating: 10/10 (12 December 1999)

Reviewing Fellini's "Casanova", Pauline Kael wrote, that it's impossible for a director to make a successful epic about himself. With "Annie Hall", Allen didn't just become first director to accomplish that, he was the first successful case of a person to just stand before camera, and tell the world about himself. Allen makes what other directors were afraid of: he shows all of his cards, he hides nothing. His message is: "Here I am, a little man, telling you about my views on everything from sex to politics. Some of them are trivial, some original, but I don't care--take it or leave it". "Annie Hall" could be so incredibly bad, but it wasn't. It is a masterpiece not in a sense that it's a very good film, it's rather one of those cases where you accept it for what it is.It's really simple, yes, but like with all Allen's films, it's simplicity borders with perfection. It's obvious that Allen was set to make a "serious" movie, but, like many times after, didn't. Instead, we got one of the funniest and honest films ever made. Maybe word masterpiece shouldn't be applied to "Annie Hall", but in his own half-baked way, Allen made the perfect self-portrait.