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Romantic comedy-drama

Manhattan

Year
1979
Director
Woody Allen
Length
Not established

New York is photographed as a romance while its adults make a series of far less graceful choices.

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Language
English
RomanticBeautiful Best saved for later · Moderate Romantic comedy-drama
A layered black New York skyline bends around a pale lavender river above two tiny riverside figures.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

What to expect

Gordon Willis’s widescreen black-and-white images give the city scale, darkness, and lyrical order. That beauty now sits in productive tension with relationships the film treats more lightly than many viewers will.

How to ease in

Separate admiration for the images from agreement with the characters. The film is easiest to assess when its visual romance and its ethical blind spots are both kept visible.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes an adult relationship with a teenager, infidelity, age-gap relationships, and sexual discussion.
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I cannot let the skyline decide what is acceptable, but I also cannot pretend the skyline has no power. The conflict between those responses is now part of watching the film.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

Credits & versions

Sources for the facts

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