Saturday, January 1, 2011

Best Actress 1977: Diane Keaton in Annie Hall



Diane Keaton received her first Oscar nomination and won for playing Annie Hall in Annie Hall. Annie meets Alvy Singer (Woody Allen), a neurotic-comedian who she falls for. They begin a beautiful, funny romance that might not work out in the end, but it is truly wonderful to watch.



Annie Hall has always been a favorite of mine, I just love the way it's directed, and written. The screenplay is golden, though Woody's character is pretty insufferable, which is the one problem I have with the movie, but more on that later. Diane Keatoin plays Annie, an odd, sort of social outcast young woman who meets Alvy on a sort of double-date with her friend and his friend. In the beginning, Diane Keaton is simply wonderful. She's natural, luminous, funny, and a joy to watch. She shows us Annie's fears, her passions, her shyness at first., her hope that Alvy might be the right guy. Her delivery is perfect, and she's just so real here. This performance has many great moments, her la de da, the scene in they're apartment, her singing, which is lovely. Diane Keaton also develops the character wonderfully too. She starts to let the audience see that she is starting to realize they're relationship won't work out because Alvy simply cannot change. Annie starts becoming more comfortable around people, and starts to try new things, and become her own person, and Diane nails all of this. Her break-up scene with Alvy might be a bit calculated, but Diane still plays it perfectly. THe chemistry between them is fantastic.



But one problem might be that although Diane does a great job developing the character, I think she could have been given a bit more to do. I think the film focuses too much on Alvy, and they should have given Keaton a little more to do too. But this is only a minor complaint because Diane Keaton still delievers a beautiful, natural, enjoyable performance that gets

12 comments:

Louis Morgan said...

I feel she is good as well, but I can't quite see the amazing performance some seem to see.

joe burns said...

I should have put this in my review, but I think that people praise her wrongly. She's great, but in a natural, beautiful way, the way people praise her, amazing, ect, gets too many people's expectations up.

Anonymous said...

She's terrific, very natural.

joe burns said...

I know!

Brandon said...

I haven't seen her yet, but I expect to love her!

dinasztie said...

I love her and the movie.

Fritz said...

Love her!

joe burns said...

Twister: I hope you do like her!



Dinasztie: Me too!


Fritz: Me too!

Brandon said...

Hey Joe, what performance are you showcasing for the Blogathon?

joe burns said...

I'm thinking about reviewing Helena Bonham-Carter in The King's Speech or if I manage to see The Fighter before sunday, either Amy Adams or Melissa Leo. Hopefully the latter.


How about you?

joe burns said...

By the way, what did you think of Black Swan?

Unknown said...

Diane's double feature of great performances in 1977 (she also had Looking For Mr. Goodbar that year) made her a deserving winner despite strong competition from Jane Fonda.