Diane Keaton, Manhattan

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Stephen Schiff

“[Mary is] high-strung…[,] tense, attractive….

“…. Late in the movie,… [Allen's Isaac] announces plans for ‘a short story about people in Manhattan who are constantly creating these real unnecessary neurotic problems for therselves that keep them from dealing with more terrifying, unsolvable problems about the universe.’ Manhattan is that short story, and much more besides…. In allowing the humor to emerge from his story and the people in it, Allen has come up with the most vivid, convincingly literate characters in years….

“A self-styled expert on all matters artistic, Mary is the very model of the modern urban neurotic: abuzz with opinions, endlessly seeking confirmation of her intelligence, her beauty, and her prestige. When Yale [Michael Murphy] drops her, Isaac finds himself falling in love with her. Not only is he drawn to her beauty and her energy, he also thinks he might be good for her. The mess she's made out of her life exasperates the hell out of him…. [Insert what's cut?]

“…. The actors pass freely in and out of the frame, and the camera never scurries to contain them or pin them in some pretty configuration. Much of the movie feels improvised; the people in it are Allen's friends off the screen as well as on, so their real-life chemistry makes the small exchanges sparkle…. And Diane Keaton delivers her best performance yet, melding the lunatic nervousness of her Annie Hall with the angst of her unconvincing role in Interiors to create an oddly appealing portrait of the modern career woman, hurtling along on some mysterious momentum toward a destiny she's never had the time to fathom.

“Manhattan's most striking performance, however, belongs to Woody Allen….”

Stephen Schiff
Boston Phoenix, May 8, 1979

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