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What a Pair

Allen and Keaton repeat history

A A A Comments By Robert Wilonsky Thursday, Apr 17 2008

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Since the beginning of the month, the Inwood Theater, 5458 W. Lovers Lane, has been hosting a limited-run film festival courtesy of United Artists, which celebrates its 90th birthday this annum; Annie Hall marks the closing-night offering, after a midnight run of such pristinely polished crown jewels as Midnight Cowboy, West Side Story and Some Like It Hot. It's not a little heartbreaking to see the series wrap so soon, as Dallas has long gone without a revival house capable of projecting widescreen memories other than during special occasions such as the UA celebration or other fests and fetes. Annie Hall's a full-course meal all by its lonesome, but it will only increase our hunger to see Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters, among other Woody Allen immortals, projected bigger than our TV screens can handle. Annie Hall, of course, was Allen's first "serious" laugher and the romantic comedy by which all other comers have and will be judged till the last googolplex goes dark; clever and quixotic, it's the closest thing to perfection movies can offer. Yes, it's episodic; and, yes, it's paced like a stand-up's act; and, yes, it's acutely, almost painfully self-aware. Yet it withstands, 31 years after its initial release, repeated viewings—rewards them, actually, with pleasures hidden in every long take and wisecrack and heartbreak. Visit landmarktheatres.com.
Sun., April 27, midnight, 2008