Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)'s comments

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Siskoid

Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters got four Oscars and certainly features one of his strongest casts, but I didn't fall in love with it. The film follows the lives and loves of the title characters and the men who love them, over the course of a year or two, many of them getting in on the narration. It's well-observed and actor-driven (indeed, a lot of the actors are PLAYING actors), frequently funny, and no surprise, uses New York to full advantage as a location. I suppose what bothered me about it is that it felt strangely unfocused. We spend an inordinate amount of time with Woody Allen's own character, a fidgety TV executive having an existential crisis, and yet, that's where the best comedy comes from and what best delivers the film's theme that life is meant to be lived, and passions meant to be followed. Perhaps what charmed audiences in 1986 was the clash of two different films crashing into each other like that. I'm not saying it doesn't work, only that it didn't quite do it for me. Warning: A couple of very brief moments have aged badly and may make modern audiences cringe; won't get into it, but it's got to do with Allen's later personal life.

8 years 10 months ago