Carina Nieves
“Manhattan”
Woody Allen
10/11/2007
In the film “Manhattan” by Woody Allen, he show cases this spectacular metropolis at
time when the city was in big development. All of the characters in the film are not like
the majority of New Yorker’s, meaning the wealthy class: fake, snobby, rich people. The
characters in the film are middle class New Yorker’s just trying to get by and having
problems in their love life. The director uses many different scene props to accentuate the
setting which is of course the main borough of New York City but to also really brings
out the characters personalities in the film.
The performer who in my opinion was particularly successful in
enacting their role in the movie is Woody Allen. I choose him because I’ve only heard of
his name before but as an actor he is very new to me. He probably didn’t have a problem
enacting Issac because his character was based on his life experiences. It is ironic because
his character forebodes what ends up really ending up later in his life which he ends up
marrying his adopted daughter Soon -Yi Previn.
While watching the film I noticed many of the different decisions made
by the director to the scenes of the film. The setting was the most importance because it
compliments the characters and of course the name of the movie. Many of the scenes are
shot at sunrise and sunset which gives the movie a romantic touch. Woody Allen’s
decision to film the movie in black and white even though in the 1970’s movies were
made in color gave the movie an old fashioned feel to it just like Miracle on 34 th Street.
The background music also gave the movie an old fashion feel to it too but also helped
with the mood the audience receives to the scenes of the film.
All of these scene directions I think were effective because in the end you did get the feel
of the movie being a romantic drama on the lives of these characters that are facing
problems. I think the scene with Issac and Mary near the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset really
went with how the characters were interacting. I think that this scene of the Brooklyn
Bridge with Issac and Mary symbolizes their indecisiveness in their love lives. Mary in
which she doesn’t know whether to stay with Issac or to go back with Yale and Issac in
which he doesn’t know how he feels about his relationship with Tracy.
There were many similarities with characters and themes between the
movie and the James Baldwin short stories “The Enormous Radio” and “The Five-Forty
Radio”. Irene from “The Enormous Radio” hides the reality of her problems in her
marriage in illusions thinking that the radio will reveal all of her problems to everyone.
At the same time Issac from the movie shows his problems through his insecurity by
dating a seventeen year old girl Tracy since his wife divorced him to be with another
woman. Mary on the other hand is just like Blake from “The Five-Forty Eight”, but the
only difference is that Blake sleeps with her boss who is a married man, then is fired by
him and in return takes her boss hostage with a gun. Mary dates Issac’s friend Yale who
is a married man on the verge of a divorce. She then breaks up with him and starts to date
Issac but then breaks up with him to go back with Yale.
The theme that keeps
reoccurring that is witnessed in both short stories and in the movie which is relationship
problems.
I am not very familiar with actors and actresses today
so I really wouldn’t know who to cast if this film were made today but the character of
Issac Davis I would choose Charlie Sheen to play him. Why? Well because he is from
NYC and is in his forties in real life is a play boy and plays one on the hit comedy “Two
and Half Men”. He would know how to play the character since he is familiar with dating
younger women.