Yesterday’s seminar class introduced the film portion of the semester with the viewing of Manhattan, directed by Woody Allen.  It starred Woody Allen himself, Diane Keaton, Michael Murphy and Mariel Hemingway.  Normally, I am not a fan of black and white movies, but I am currently taking a cinema class, and that has introduced me to all types of movies, leading me to see that black and white films aren’t so bad.  This particular movie, even though it was in black and white, was very enjoyable and I think, if anything, the black and white film stock added to the effect of the movie instead of taking away from it.  It gives the film that “old time-y” feel and helps the viewer appreciate the time period of the movie and usually helps to characterize at least one of the characters.  For example, in black and white films, shadows are often used to emphasize a character’s personality.  In the scene in the film where Isaac and Tracy are in Isaac’s basement and Tracy is getting ready to go home, the entire room is cast in shadows.  That could maybe help to emphasize the point that what they are doing is wrong and their relationship they have to keep hidden from the rest of the world.

I’d like to discuss some of the other technical aspects of the film.  The camera movement in a film is always very important, because the camera is the method of telling the story.  The camera is the “eyes and ears” of the film.  In this movie, the camera did not have any particularly special shots, except for the few times when the camera became somebody’s point of view.  There were certain shots throughout the film where the camera went from filming the people as a 3rd person to showing the viewer whatever the character was looking at, shooting from a 1st person perspective.  One time in particular that I recall this was when they were driving in a car, early in the film, and it is as if the camera is looking out of the windshield.  When the camera takes on a 1st person point of view, it adds emphasis to the way the story is being told.  Most of the frames are shot including all of the characters who are partaking in a conversation of particular activity.  The camera follows the central characters with whatever they are doing.

The roles of costume, music, and set in this film help to contribute to the storyline and the time period.  The costumes of the characters mainly help us to understand that they are high society and they are intellectuals.  Yale is a college professor; both he and Isaac are writers; Mary is supposedly brilliant.  They are always dressed in suits and dresses, and the viewer always sees them attending events such as book publishings, gallery openings, museum exhibits, etc.  These backdrops to the storyline help the viewer understand the kind of status the characters hold in NYC.  The music also adds to this effect.  Throughout the movie, the music is a mix of jazzy and classical.  To me, this music seems like the type of music that high society people would be accustomed to, when they attend parties and gallery openings and such.  In a way, it reminds me of All About Eve.  The music just provides a background to the storyline. (or in the case of All About Eve, the conversation)  The music never has lyrics, it is just playing in the background.

Finally, the dialogue is a part of the movie that intrigued and entertained me. The dialogue in this movie is very fast-paced, very witty at times.  Even when the narrator is speaking at the beginning, the dialogue is very conversational, very relaxed, unrefined.  Within the movie, the characters often use crude humor to make their point, which is kind of surprising since they are supposed to be in high society.  All of the characters seemed to be intellectuals, but they reminded me more of pseudo-intellectuals, as if they were all trying to come off as being more intelligent than they actually were.  The dialogue, for me, was the best part of the movie, because it grabbed my attention and kept me interested.

As for the actual movie itself, the storyline, it was slightly weird, and definitely eccentric.  Woody Allen came off as kind of creepy to me, but I appreciated his humor and at the same time, I kind of felt bad for him.  He seemed to have it all together and yet, he seemed so lost.  The movie also had some morals behind it.  For example, you should always have a little faith in people and nobody is perfect; everybody makes mistakes. I think the movie teaches you something about yourself, while you go through the process with Isaac of trying to discover what he wants for himself.  I’m glad I enjoyed the movie, because it made watching the film and writing this blog much easier and more enjoyable.  I look forward to seeing the rest of the films in the upcoming weeks.