European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 03, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                "=w��0��i11ii11 the Bergman it Hall. Is Diane Keaton Woody Allen s us Ullmann by Vincent Canby new York times i mile Day after t saw Woody Allen s i i new film Annie Hall the Man with the i tape recorder started haunting me. Turning up on the next Stool at chock pull o nuts staring dumbly at me from across the aisle on the no. 104 i bus when i was trying to read about Zaire standing in line behind me at the Bank with no Check or withdrawal slip in his hand Only the damned tape re Corder. I made a mental note if Art is life recorded As now seems to be the fashion the Triumph of our age is the instant replay. The time spent on the creative process has been brought to the reducible minimum. Eradicated. The Man s expression was always the sumo a mixture of disbelief and reproach. Because movie buffs Are like drunks at any minute they Chin turn mean i finally submitted to the inter View As much to put my own thoughts in order As to get rid of him. He did t waste words making his Point. A you Aren t serious a f think Lam. A you say you think. Aren t you sure a yes. A you believe that Woody Allen is America s Ingmar Bergman a exactly. Or As close As we have at the moment or Are Likely to have. A you Are telling me that a stand up comic a fellow who began As a freelance gag writer for Sid Caesar and then went on to perform one liners in nightclubs and on television is some kind of reflection of America s collective subconscious a i m not sure j know exactly what the collective subs conscious is. Or whether that has anything to do with Bergman. What 1 mean is that 1 think it s about time that we recognized Woody Allen As one of our most original most personal most passionate most introspective filmmakers. And i think that the background you be just cited with what sounded like a Small inhibited sneer is one of the reasons that he May speak or our Lime and place in a Way that would be forever beyond the reach of people we treat much More seriously. You know Robert Allman. Francis Ford Coppola Martin Scorsese. A most introspective ? a tic Way american life is set up we Aren t meant to have much time for introspection. And it s apparent from All of Woody s films from take the Money and run through Sleeper. La w and death and now Annie All that Woody is As introspective As any american can be and attend kicks games play a clarinet go to movie revivals write essays stories and film scripts Sec friends watch television have a relationship and still be in analysis. It s not easy. You be got to be ready to introspect at a free moment As when you re at the analysts on the Couch and the super interrupts to install a new Light switch. A you re sending me up a not at All. Woody is the poet of America s emotionally disenfranchised Urban upwardly Mobile males who seek Fame Fortune and girls they can relate to. Like All artists he s a bit schizoid. He s a participant in the american dream but never for a moment in t he standing a Little to one Side watching himself. I suspect he s a note taker. A Well i suspect that the principal reasons you re associating Woody Allen to Ingmar Bergman at this Point Are because he s on the record As being a Bergman admirer and because Annie All has All the aspects of a Flim a Clay if you know what i mean. It s about a jewish boy from Brooklyn who becomes a successful comedian Woody who Falls in love with a Beautiful talented Waspy actress Singer played by Diane Keaton the Beautiful talented Waspy actress Singer with whom Woody has a relationship in real life. A it s not just that. It also has to do with the con Cerns of the film and their Quality. 1 Haven t seen an american film in years that was As seriously inter ested in the relations Between men and women As Annie Hoji. Or for that matter a film that was Asse piously interested and As funny and perceptive. A and Diane Keaton is Woody s us Ullmann a i think so. As Bergman has a Way of trans forming Liv Ullmann into one of the world s great beauties so does Woody have a Way of permitting us to share his appreciation of Keaton s Beauty Talent intelligence and wit As Well As her idiosyncrasies there s a scene in Annie Hall the one in the night club in which Woody allows Diane Keaton losing it seems like old times from Start to finish without a Cut that is comparable to the great monologues that Bergman has Given Ullmann and to go further Back comparable to Chaplin s treatment of Paillette Goddard in modern times and the great dictator a he s a Chaplin a no he s an Allen. A. But All those Catskill jokes lie s so. Verbal and they Are after All Only jokes. A they Are brilliantly used. And if you think his films Are too verbal you Aren t looking at them they have a disciplined simplicity that is in the style of a Bergman or a Bunuel. No irrelevant camera movements. Everything is in the service of the screenplay. Nothing interferes which is Why Annie Hall is so effective both hilarious and moving. A i can t help feeling he s frivolous. I Don t buy All his name dropping Kant Kierkegaard. Niclot sch Postoy Vusky. Death god. It s a kind of Flag Ging of Lalus Symbol waving. A i think it is and it s meant to be. But 1 also be Lieve it. Woody is a seeker. There is in him still the Small child who goes into the Library and wants desperately somehow to absorb All those volumes As i once he had slowed through them he would have found the answer to life. Woody is no Edgar Cayce. Lie can t put a volume under his Pillow when he goes to bed and Wake up in the morning with the contents having seeped up into his brain. He s a Reader. He also is a Cross indexer. Which is the source of som of his funniest routines. A but he s always the same. A i disagree. One of the most interesting things about Annie Hail is the emergence of the Public Woody Allen character As a hero. Its Persona has travelled a Long Way from tote the Money and run to Annie Hall from the a Cobbish who would t have dared to entertain a real feeling to the tortured if comically mover and doer who is the hero of Annie Hall. The Rake s Progress has been audacious. A can you imagine Woody Allen Ever making a movie like wild strawberries or face to face a can you imagine Ingmar Bergman Ever making a movie like bananas or steeper that s not the Point. Because Woody works with the materials of the popular comedians it May be difficult for us to see just How original and adventurous a film like Annie Hall really is it s time to pay att lion. 3, 1977 the stars and stripes Poge 15