I just watched Manhattan again on TCM. What a great film. The things that always get me about it are the cinematography and music. In so many films NY is the backdrop for a plot. In this one it is actually the star and the story is the backdrop. In fact the story is really nothing remarkable in that it's about angst, vanity and lust. Naturally, it's a cut above similar stories because Woody wrote it.
I mean I love the scene where Woody's character Isaac is at a party arguing with a bunch of psuedo-intellectuals that physical violence surpasses "biting satire" when it comes to dealing with Nazis. After all, "...physical force is always better with Nazis. Cos it's hard to satirize a guy with shiny boots." Or when his best friend accuses him of thinking he's God. "I gotta' model myself after someone."
But no matter what's being said on screen your eye is usually drawn away from the actors and on to the City. And if you've been to the City and fell in love with it, it makes you a little homesick.
And if I was a brilliant filmmaker, this is exactly how I would've put it . . .
