A Wonderfully Quirky Romance

Rating: Null/10 (10 December 2006)

Annie Hall is one of the best movies Woody Allen has done. It's witty, intelligent, realistic, beautiful, touching, and unique. It toys with our concept of time, as we see a relationship and the beginning, middle, and end of it, not always in this order.
The screenplay, as in all Woody movies, is great. The romance always sounds so real- with its bad and good times, and no forced happy ending- that you root for them to stay together. The characters are amazing. Annie Hall is wonderfully developed. She's truly beautiful, sweet, humane and quite odd, which makes her endearing. Woody Allen is just himself, nervous and paranoid. The jokes are always thought provoking and incredibly witty and ironic. The dialogs are about as good as you can get; not just they keep you interested, but they're full of references to another movies and books and have a lot of criticism to our society and ourselves. The way the story is told gets you even more interested, with all the flashbacks giving you insight in who the characters were and who they become.
The acting is stunning. Diane Keaton, as Annie, gives one of my favorite performances ever. Her character is well written, but it's quite difficult to pull off. She can just get the right quirky, messy look,. with a lot of sweetness and beauty. She has an amazing delivery, speaking about everything in a light, cute way. The supporting actors are all good, but no one can get close to Keaton. Woody Allen, even if just playing himself, is particularly good.
The direction is one of the best Allen has done, with the hand held camera and his way of starring at the camera and saying what he thinks or wishes. The editing makes the movie much more interesting; it runs smoothly an it's easy to understand, and at the same time it helps you to get a full understanding of the relationship. The music and photography are good, but not remarkable. Overall, this is an obligatory movie for everyone, and what every romantic comedy wishes to be.