Falling In Love with Annie Hall

On the back of the DVD case for Annie Hall it states that the film "Established Allen as the premier auteur filmmaker." I haven't seen enough of Allen's films to truly judge that quote. But I can say that Annie Hall is a masterful, innovative, and funny film. Woody Allen once again co-writes, directs, and stars in Annie Hall. In the film he plays Alvy Singer a kind of famous comedian who is in a continuing relationship with part time night club singer Annie Hall(Diane Keaton). The film isn't structured normally. It often jumps around in its timeframe and mainly consists of two or more scenes in different time frames mixed with eachother for comedic effect. The two biggest stylistic choices in the film that I loved and were very innovative for their time were:

1. Breaking the fourth wall: Several times Alvy looks directly into the camera and addresses the audience.

2. Incorporation of Flashbacks. When the film often flashbacks it has the characters from the present actually interact with the flashbacks directly and they have discussions with eachother as the flashback goes on

Many films use this technique and without Annie Hall we wouldn't see films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Besides the technique in the film, we also get to see how well Woody writes dialouge. Everything sounds realistic and flows very well. Diane Keaton is excellent and has a great singing voice. Everything about Annie Hall was enjoyable, be its dialouge, acting, or distinctive style. It deserved every Oscar it won(Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actress) and changed the film industry forever. I love Annie Hall