Müpa filmkcub: Manhattan (1979)
Obviously, without greater geometric knowledge, no one can cope with Woody Allen's love polygons, especially when one of their apexes is a city. This time Manhattan is right at the centre. Cinematographer Gordon Willis invented a new language: for the first time in Allen's life, the film is wide-screen and in black and white. The wider picture shows more of the city. And the lack of colour makes the city look like artists' photographs. Woody Allen's heroes have already expressed the view in his previous films that living in New York is not a matter of choice, because there is nowhere else to live. This is made clear right at the beginning of the movie by the hero of this story, Isaac Davis, a writer who is struggling with the first chapter of a novel.
Schedule
Manhattan is in many ways a continuation of Annie Hall. Not of the story, but of the idea. Woody Allen, however, restrains his hero this time. Isaac is nowhere near as witty and omniscient as Alvy Singer. And what's more! The script brings him together with a woman, Mary (Diane Keaton), who is wittier, who has a sharper tongue. And what is particularly touching about this film is that its hesitant characters, trained on various analytics, are full of emotion. And it's not easy for them to cope. The use of a wide screen is also extremely exciting. While the narrower screen kept the characters together, the wide open space allows them to creep in and out of the picture during painful scenes. Surprisingly, this makes everything a little more dramatic. (Don't worry, Gershwin's music helps you through.) Manhattan is Woody Allen's beautiful, emotional meditation on the altered state of consciousness called love. And it bears little resemblance to the romantic comedies of our time, whose beginning, end and stakes are love itself. Instead, we can consider that love, break-ups, betrayals, reunions and so on are all part of a larger game - life.
In English, with Hungarian subtitles.
The discussions before and after the screening will be conducted in Hungarian.
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Müpa Budapest is one of Hungary's best-known cultural brands and one of the most modern cultural institutions, bringing together different artistic disciplines in a unique way: it hosts classical, contemporary, light, jazz and world music, opera, new circus, dance, literature and film.
