Not sure how I feel about the "film", but the way it was filmed was something else. A fantastic breath of fresh air

Rating: 7/10 (10 May 2016)

Ahh, the feeling one gets while watching this Woody Allen Classic. He completely breaks the rules of "Hollywood Invisibility", and at pretty much every time he gets (Allen is also a main actor in this film) the chance to, he steps out of the film world to interact with us. It's almost as if we were standing in the room, and whenever something that would garner a reaction out of us, Allen reaches out and addresses it, directly with us. He also breaks the rules of a typical flashback very early on in the film, and personally, I think it's one of the best scenes I've seen in a long time, let alone this film. The way Allen handles the chronology, the realism (lack thereof), and acting is what makes this film so great. Which brings me to the next part, the acting. While viewing this film, I didn't feel as though I was watching actors perform roles on a screen. I couldn't say, "The way Diane Keaton played Annie was really great, I think if they cast actress X though it may have been a bit better". And I don't feel anyone could logically, thoughtfully make that assumption. Because the film focused on what was real, what was raw. None of the actors "fit" into any particular role, they all had their quirks, obsessions that in film, can either be a core focus of the film or play towards the film's underlying meaning. In Annie Hall, not so much. They were just people. And their person-hood wasn't to some greater goal. I feel like Allen couldn't have directed this film any better even if he tried.