Manhattan vs. Brazil vs. Rebel without a cause

Well, our last task was to relate Manhattan with the movies of the other Blogs, so when we begun studying the other Blogs we got really confused because if we talk about genre, well, we can see for example: Wild bunch, the battle of Britain, Rebel without a cause and Citizen Kane are from the drama genre, also that Citizen Kane, The Maltese falcon, Gold Rush, High noon, The battle of Britain and Whitehouse are in black and white, but apart from that, we couldn’t find any other significative similarity, until we read the Blogs about the movies Brazil and Rebel Without a cause. In these ones we could find a social parody also like our movie. The characters are very bizarre and a clear critic to a social stereotype, for example James Dean in Rebel without a cause is a crazy boy, who loves to get himself in any kind of trouble, searching for an identity, an original one, in Brazil almost all characters are very singular, which is the main characteristic from Manhattan, where Allen really represent the semi-intelectual specie in a very sarcastic way, and the most mature and centered character in the movie, is the youngest and most innocent one.

In conclusion, we learned to love this project, because it really helped us to study a movie, in a more deep way, relating it with other characteristics and ideologies, but regarding all of this, we think that Woody Allen can’t be compared to any director, because his creativity and strange way to represent society and stereotypes in his films, are unique. The only director that, i think, is the master of Woody, is Charles Chaplin, because he's the father of social sarcasm. After all of this all we can do now is hope for you to like our Blog, so for the ones that are reading this, we say: Thank you.

Manhattan's Background

Manhattan’s a parody or a strong critic to the way people live in a so obsessed society, where people fight against a monotonically simple and common life. The characters of this film are the way Allen sees people in a crowded city like Manhattan, and even the way he sees himself. Woody Allen tries to make people understand that existence is way too complicated to live or to seek for the “best” one, Allen shows with Manhattan that the best way to live, is to be yourself, and forget about what everyone else thinks or do.

Manhattan is shot in black and white, by the same cinematographer who had filmed The Godfather, Mr. Gordon Willis. Allen wanted to shot Manhattan in black and white because he remembered New York in that way, thanks to old pictures, films, books, etc.
The music composed by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, shows, according to Allen, the real appearance of New York, its decadent, sad, and cold side, even though Woody Allen loves this city.

A fun tip, is that Woody Allen himself appeared in a Simpson’s chapter, and the movie Manhattan itself was parodied in the Simpsons chapter Rome-old and Julie-eh, where Grandpa Simpson and Selma get married.

Our first impression

This story, we could say, that more than a movie for its director, Woody Allen, this was a tribute to its beloved city New York, How can we see that? First of all, we can notice this fact by focusing on the photography, the images, which show the most beautiful angles of New York, the movie is in black and white, which gives us this touch of an intellectual environment, such as the characters, which are all kind of pseudo-intellectuals if you ask us.

When you watch this movie, you just feel like drinking a cup of coffee, smoke a cigarette and just enjoy a nice film like this.

This movie, summing up, deals with the story of a 40 year-old writer , who is divorced from his lesbian ex wife, who’s going to write a book about their sexual life. He’s also having a relationship with a 17 year-old girl called Tracy, whom we think is the most normal character of all.

The movie starts to catch you attention, when Isaac meets his best friend’s lover, Mary, with whom he falls in love.

If you think of this movie, in a bad mood, as we did in the beginning, you may find a lot of factors not to be interested as the time of its release date which is 1979, so as you can see is a very old movie. Woody Allen, is not the greatest director ever, the name of the movie and it’s plot. Well, being honest it’s not very exciting, but when you watch it, it's hard to explain, but it is as if you were transported to a corner of New York, the music, colours, and the story, it’s kind of relaxing, you feel like if you were watching all the actions of this movie, from a coffee shop, like the one of the “Friends” series. So don’t get confused by the external image of the film, because it’s a very interesting movie to watch.

Technical Information

Directed by Woody Allen.

Produced by Charles H. Joffe.

Written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman.

Starring: Woody Allen,Diane Keaton,Michael Murphy,Mariel Hemingway,Meryl Streep and Anne Byrne.

Music by George Gerswhin.

Cinematography: Gordon Willis.

Editing by Susan E. Morse.

Distributed by United Artists.

Release date: March 14, 1979

Running time: 96 minutes

Country: United States

Language: English

Gross revenue: us $39,900,000

Genre: Drama-Comedy