Hannah and Her Sisters
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Movie Reviews of Hannah and Her Sisters
Movie Review: Vintage Allen
Summary: 5 Stars
Woody Allen has never made a movie appreciably better than 'Hannah.' It may not be his single best (an honor I reserve for 'Manhattan'), but it's on the shortest of short lists.
My favorite moment in the movie, and maybe Allen's most insightful ever, is when neurotic Mickey (played by Allen) bursts out of the hospital, having just learned that he is cancer-free. He leaps and bounds down the street, joy overflowing, until, suddenly, he stops, paralyzed with a newly imagined anxiety. Yes, Mickey was delivered from cancer, but he wasn't delivered from himself. You could look long and hard and never discover another ten seconds of filmmaking that better capture what it means to be human. Life's vicissitudes alternately beat us down and lift us up, but in the end, we always revert to ourselves.
When Woody Allen is at his best, you can't help but feel he's writing about *your* life, or something very close to it. Who hasn't experienced Holly's rejection in romance, Frederick's anguish and regret over squandering a relationship, Elliot's clumsy giddiness as he falls in love, Mickey's obsessive anxiety about death? There's a recognizable moment from my experience in almost every scene.
'Hannah and Her Sisters' also boasts Allen's single-best-ever soundtrack. I dare you to watch this movie and not tap your foot. The soundtrack is not available on CD, so that's one more reason to crack open the DVD for the dozenth time.
If you haven't seen 'Hannah and Her Sisters,' now's the time. If you have, it can't hurt to revisit a bona-fide classic.
Movie Review: Considered Woody Allen's best film.
Summary: 5 Stars
Hannah and Her Sisters is considered by many critics (including Roger Ebert) to be Woody Allen's finest film. (My personal favorite is Manhattan, but Hannah is a close second.) It is a romantic comedy with dramatic undertones that tells the intertwined stories of Hannah (Mia Farrow ) and her two sisters (Barbara Hershey and Dianne Wiest). The film takes place over a one-year period beginning and ending with a Thanksgiving dinner party hosted by Hannah and her accountant husband Elliot (Michael Caine). Elliot, we discover, is having an affair with one of Hannah's sisters, Lee (Hershey). Hannah's ex-husband Mickey (Allen) brings comic relief to the film. He is a neurotic, hypochondriac, television executive in the midst of a full-blown existential crisis, obsessed with death and his unhappiness. Mickey is not much different than the characters Allen plays in Annie Hall and Manhattan. He is involved with Hannah's other sister, Holly (Wiest), who has a fondness for cocaine. Other actors appearing in the ensemble film include Carrie Fisher, Max von Sydow, Julie Kavner, Lewis Black, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, John Turturro, Tony Roberts, and Sam Waterston. Of all, Allen's character is the most interesting in my opinion.
G. Merritt
Movie Review: Woody Allen's best and one of my all-time favorite movies...
Summary: 5 Stars
HANNAH AND HER SISTERS was recommended VERY, VERY highly by a fine arts teacher when it was first released in '86. He couldn't say enough good things about how wonderful the casting, the story and the humor made the movie a real treat. 15 years and at least a couple dozen viewings later, I couldn't agree more. This movie is like comfort food. I have connected with the characters, Holly in particular (played wonderfully by Dianne Wiest, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for this role)so many times that they are literally like old friends. The themes are common to everyday life and family, which doesn't make them a cliche, but more meaningful every time I watch.
There are moments in the film you can replay in your memory time and again: my favorite is the taxi scene when Holly is ruminating over her awful "date" with her friend April (another great performance by Carrie Fisher) and the architect, David.
I think this is one of the most well-cast films made by anyone, American or foreign directors included. Michael Caine, Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey and Max von Sydow form a perfectly blended ensemble.
The DVD transfer is of average quality. The picture is crisp enough, but it doesn't look enhanced in the DVD format. It would be nice if the studio had included more than a skimpy essay on the film's production that is included as a two-page liner/note on the inside cover.
HANNAH AND HER SISTERS will make a great holiday gift for everyone, friends and family included this season!
Movie Review: The finest film of Allen's notable career
Summary: 5 Stars
Woody Allen's "Hannah and Her Sisters" is the finest of the neurotic writer-director-actor's pictures. His prowess in weaving together complete characters and compelling storylines is as intricate as Altman, as artful as Renoir. Yes, those are "big movie terms," but are warranted in describing this bitersweet marvel.Allen's command of the medium results in some terrific photographic shots, including the classic "camera-revolving-around-the-table" sequence featuring Hannah (Mia Farrow) and her sisters (Barbara Hershey and dynamite Oscar-winner Dianne Wiest), whose lives all seem to be going through very adult mid-life crises with their husbands, ex-husbands, boyfriends, and families. Michael Caine's work in this film also shines, and Allen himself is in his prime. The ensemble cast in this film creates an atmosphere that has you really believing you're watching friends and family, and not simply actors acting, reciting lines, a problem even the better "ensemble films" often face.
All of the elements in this picture --- cinematography, classic jazz tunes, nearly-musical dialogue --- are on ample display in a film rich with human warmth and big laughs. Although Allen's films are not for all tastes, this is a film that should very easily be enjoyed by nonfans and especially film students who can get a chance to see a virtuoso talent at the top of his form, not conforming by traditional storytelling and filmic norms.
Movie Review: Hannah et al.
Summary: 5 Stars
My guy friends tend to give me grief that I include "Hannah and Her Sisters" in my top three "all-time best films ever" list-- and I'm not sure exactly what it is about this movie that keeps me watching it over and over. Maybe its the wholesome sexiness of Lee (Barbara Hershey) and her dark-eyed brooding. Or it could be the Oscar-winning performance of one of my favorite actors: Michael Caine, who pulls off his career performance by delivering the travesty of adultery as a warm sweater that I slip into on a cold New York afternoon. As a general worshiper of women of all descriptions, I also can't deny that indulging in the intimate relationships of Hannah and her uniquely beautiful sisters is a pure pleasure.
The musical score serves as the most introspective character of this piece, Woody's typically perfect collection of classic melancholia-- Hannah's father plays a piano version of "You Are Too Beautiful" that makes me catch my breath.
I could go on and on. All of these elements are but a glimpse of a gestalt of sublime screenwriting, acting, and direction that brings me back to this film on a regular basis in order to fuel my emotional well-being.
For those building a library, this is the first film you should own by Woody Allen, as it will introduce his genius to you on a rich and familiar level that will only leave you wanting to see, hear, and feel more (Manhattan).