Review

Allen is at his most insightful with this valentine of a film which pays tribute to his favorite city, romance, Gershwin, neuroses and bungled love affairs. Arguably his best film (some would say Annie Hall), Manhattan follows the jagged course of love taken by a group of New York sophisticates. Shot in a romanticized black and white, the film is both deliriously comic and assuredly dramatic while exploring romantic indiscretions, misjudgments and betrayals. Allen plays a TV writer who is involved with high schooler Hemingway. His married best friend Murphy is involved with pseudo-intellectual magazine editor Keaton. As these romantics crisscross and grapple with the frailties of relationships, Allen succinctly addresses the nature of romance and its tenacious grip on us all.