76/100

Here's what's weird: I can now see in this old favorite the seeds of everything I dislike about his recent films. Much of the dialogue is clunkily expository and/or tin-eared; supporting characters (e.g. Daniel Stern's gauche rock star) often function as straw-man caricatures; source music is used as a cudgel. Yet it's mostly glorious, and I spent the whole damn movie trying in vain to pinpoint the difference. In the end, I think Tarantino may be right, at least in this case and some others: Woody's just old now, and his work has become correspondingly creaky, with its highs diminished and its flaws hugely magnified. In any case, he was unmistakably at the top of his game here—though he's…

What can I say about Hannah and Her Sisters? I think this is my second favorite Woody Allen film after Annie Hall!

The movie is a feast of witty, hilarious dialogue (as you would expect from Woody Allen) and vivid characters that hooked me right off the bat. Allen makes an engaging story out of ordinary people and strikes a nice balance between drama and comedy. And once again, he effortless pulls me into his romanticized version of New York City to tell a story about four sisters and four men whose lives are intertwined through love and secrets.

Allen deals with a lot of characters and subplots in the movie, but he weaves each narrative thread together in a…

Woody Allen really is a fantastic writer and director, we all know that. He is always able to create amazing characters, fantastic dialogues, simple stories with situations that could happen and real life and none of his stories ever felt forced. All feel real and actually very believable. Hannah and Her Sisters is no exception.

An amazing comedy/drama script, that tell us the stories of multiple characters all connected because of three sisters Hannah, Lee and Holly. Family interations, romances, dramatic discoveries or even hilarious moments it's what you are going to find throughout the story.

All of the performances are absolutely fantastic, everyone is able to play their parts in the perfect way possible. Dianne Wiest, Woody Allen himself…

Hannah (Mia Farrow) is seemingly the perfect daughter in contrast with her sisters Holly (Dianne Wiest) and Lee (Barbara Hershey), but she is also rather wholesome in comparison to her parents (Lloyd Nolan and Farrow's real-life mom Maureen O'Sullivan). Well, these all happen to be just that, appearances, as every one and every thing in this work of art by Woody Allen walks the fine line between the artifice of storytelling and the actual matter that originates it and informs it all.

Hannah is in fact going through some serious situation without ever realizing it. Her husband, Elliot (Michael Caine), has become enamoured with Lee, the wife of an Scandinavian type (Max von Sydow), a misanthropic painter who is much…

On some days, this is my favorite Woody film, edging out Annie Hall just slightly and the tipping point has to be Michael Caine. He transforms himself into the antithesis of Jack Carter. The Woody dialogue rolls off his tongue so naturally, it's a shame they never worked together again. Every little mannerism and insecurity goes noticed, but it's never pompous or showy. He's playing a man in midlife crisis with secrets and desires that he cannot express clearly and he is a fully fleshed character.

The whole cast is on fire. All their interactions and inner monologues are lived in and their midlife woes and sorrows feel instinctive and driven and they all have arcs that leave them somewhere…

Performances : 7.4/10
Story : 8.4/10
Production : 8.2/10
Overall : 8/10

"Jeez, I should stop ruining my life searching for answers I'm never gonna get, and just enjoy it while it lasts. And after all, who knows, I mean maybe there is something, nobody really knows. I know 'maybe' is a very slim reed to hang your whole life on, but that's the best we have. And then I started to sit back, and I actually began to enjoy myself."

Hannah and Her Sisters contains one of the best ensemble casts that I've seen in a while. No offense, August: Osage County, but for a good time I'll take Woody, Farrow, Fisher, Caine, O'Sullivan and Max von Sydow any…

As I get older I find I'm beginning to prefer these more complex offerings on relationships and human morals by Woody Allen over his earlier all-out comedies (not to say they aren't a lot of fun themselves).

Hannah (Mia Farrow) is a lovely level-headed woman who used to be married to obsessive hypochondriac Mickey (Woody Allen), but things never worked out so they split. Hannah is now married to Elliot (Michael Caine) who lately has been yearning to strike up a side romance with Hannah's sister Lee (Barbara Hershey). Since Lee herself is shacked up with a closeted and unadventurous older artist (Max Von Sydow) she finds herself susceptible to her brother-in-law's advances.

Meanwhile, the paranoid Mickey discovers he may…

Probably Woody's most effective blend of comedy and drama, complete with his usual homage to European-director-of-choice (in this case, Ingmar Bergman). All the performances are outstanding - career-best in many cases - cloaked in a warmth that characterises Woody's films of the mid-80s but would disappear soon after. Hindsight suggests this film is probably more personal than audiences might have realised at the time, much like the way Holly's script mines her own life for drama.

I love the structure of this film - not just the recurring Thanksgiving dinners but the pinwheel-like story threads that branch out tangentially from Hannah at the core of the film.

The key strength for me, however, along with the terrific dialogue and a…

One of the absolute best actor-films. 
Seriously, all of the performances have that radiant glow around them, because they are so in tune with those perfectly written characters and dialogue for the whole runtime. Every minuscule action tells you something about them, makes you laugh, makes you think, makes you sad and makes you wonder. It is truly a joy to watch this cast. 

It also reconfirmed my belief that Woody Allens style is tailor-made for the slice-of-life approach to story’s. It is so unstylized and natural that you too feel and experience and become immersed with the fascination of daily-life, it is also amping up your identification with his characters. Through that he’s creating an effective method to highlight…