"I think people should mate for life -- like pigeons, or Catholics."
~ Isaac Davis, in Manhattan
________________________________
The beginning of Woody Allen's 1979 film, Manhattan, is imprinted on my unconscious spirit, blended into my DNA.
"Chapter One. He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion."
That sentence, "he idolized it all out of proportion" -- is kind of grand, and pedestrian, at the same time.
No, wait -- make that "he romanticized it all out of proportion."
all out of proportion...
"To him, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin."
A certain wildness, power, flair, and awe lives in that sentence.
But then he still re-writes it -- "Uh--no. Let me start this over. Chapter one. He was too romantic about Manhattan, as he was about everything else...."
he idolized it
he romanticized it
he was too romantic about it...
The thoughts and ideas keep walking, taking different paths....
Then--it starts to become a little "dark"--He adored New York City. To him, it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture!
What?! Where did all the happiness and wonder go? But yet he's still tempestuously enthusiastic in the way he writes / speaks....
Three components give the story and feeling of this scene, two audio, one visual:
Woody Allen's voice, speaking
"Rhapsody In Blue" - instrumental
and a montage of New York City images, some close up, some distant.
Movement, spectacle, detail.
To see and hear the start of this film is a thrilling experience.
There are videos of it on You Tube.
I avoid the one from "Movieclips" where it has in the lower-left corner an icon with "HD" -- this one cuts off before the end of the song and scene, and instantly hits you with that ring-tone-sounding "dingdingdingding-a-ling"....
The video I suggest is uploaded by
Victoriancu2011
video title:
Manhattan - Opening scene (Woody Allen, 1979)
New
York
was
his
town,
and
it
always
would
be.
-30-
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