On Annie Hall

I have recently, and over several sessions over several weeks, seen Woody Allen's Annie Hall again. It's great on so many levels.

I went through my first Woody Allen phase in college, catching Everybody Says I Love You with a nice girl, and also going back at the University Library and watching everything in his catalog. I saw Manhattan, Crimes and Misdemeanors and a few others that I really liked, and then there was Annie Hall.

It was polished, broad, funny, poignant and had a beautiful young Diane Keaton in it. It made Allen's neuroses relateable. And of course it was set in New York.

Now that I've seen it for the first time in 10 years I have found all of the previous judgments to be true, but it also has so much more depth, particularly about relationships.

It's still polished, still funny, and Diane Keaton is still beautiful. Allen's observations about life and love have turned out to be timeless, and more relevant to me me now than just a few years back. It is Allen's best film.