Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

That was an excellent one.

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Despite watching through a modern lens of seeing Allen as the creepy dude he seems to be, you can't deny that this interweaving story is a classic. Sure, the Allen parts are a tad... Woody Allen-y with the neurotic, hypochondriac being all nebbish and insecure, but the rest deals with some real emotions and balances a lot of humanity as it goes in and out of the lives of the characters. Well worth a watch with some strong performances!

It's undeniable that Woody Allen makes funny movies, taking absurdity and neurotic behavior to it's ultimate extreme. I've only seen a handful myself, but with the benefit of much hindsight, it's more than apparent that Allen was telegraphing the salacious and immodest behavior that would intrude on his own personal life in the years to come. It happened in a scene from "Bananas" when his character is observed at a magazine stand looking at girlie mags; he said he was doing a study on perversion and child molesting. In this one, the producer of one of his plays pulls the plug by stating that "Child molestation is a touchy subject", to which Allen's character Mickey blows it off by stating that half the country is doing it. As a writer, Allen may be tops, but as a human being he's not exactly a great role model.So with that aside out of the way, I thought the story here demonstrated Allen's screen writing ability in all it's neurotic best. Not only were the principal characters angst driven, but Mickey himself was a veritable treasure trove of insecurity and defeatist behavior. He's even a failure at suicide, though I never got the feeling he ever really wanted to off himself. The errant rifle blasts only added to the idea that he was a misguided fool who couldn't carry a project through to it's ultimate conclusion.One thing for certain, the movie has a stellar principal cast and a fine lineup of supporting players who were up and comers at the time like Lewis Black, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Daniel Stern amid the proceedings. At one point, Woody Allen is seen walking down a city street with a Hitchcock marquee in the background for "The Secret Agent", and I had to wonder if Allen intended some subliminal message there for his audience. In terms of message, I thought Allen got to the heart of the matter near the end of the story shortly after the suicide scene went bust. In reflecting on the afterlife and Man's position in the universe, the best he could come up with was "Maybe there's something. Nobody really knows." Perhaps one day he'll find out.One last observation - if you take a good look at Michael Caine in his role as Elliot, doesn't he resemble a more refined and mature version of Woody Allen?

Directed by Woody Allen, and featuring Michael Caine's and Dianne Wiest's first Best Supporting Actor/Actress (Oscar winning) performances, this Oscar nominated (for Best Picture) comedy tells so many truths about relationships and life in general that it's probably his best work, and I highly recommend it. Allen's screenplay also won an Oscar, his direction was nominated, and the film received two other nominations as well.The cast is great, and deep, and includes: Barbara Hershey, Carrie Fisher, Mia Farrow, Maureen O'Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Max von Sydow, Daniel Stern, Julie Kavner (mother Marge on TV's The Simpsons), Joanna Gleason, John Turturro, even Tony Roberts and Sam Waterson, uncredited.Allen plays a hypochondriac TV producer - Kavner's his assistant and Turturro's one of his manic writers - that thinks he's going to die from a brain tumor. He's also the ex-husband of Farrow, who's now married to Caine, who lusts after Farrow's sister Hershey, who lives with eccentric, withdrawn from society artist von Sydow, who's upset that newly rich musician Stern wants a painting to match his puce couch.Wiest plays Hannah's other sister, a former drug addict and "out of work" actress who starts a catering business with her friend Fisher, who competes with her for the affections of Waterson. O'Sullivan and Nolan play the sisters' parents: she's a former star actress, he's her "out of the limelight" husband that strayed, though they're both still happily together. When Allen's character was married to Farrow's, his low sperm count caused them to ask his business partner Roberts, with wife Gleason, to donate his so that they could have twins.The film's three parts are divided by large family gathering Thanksgiving dinner parties at Caine's and Farrow's (real life) apartment; smaller sections by silent film-like dialogue pages.

"Hannah and Her Sisters" is another Comedy movie made by Woody Allen. In this movie we have three sisters Hannah, Holly and Lee. Everything started when Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee and her hypochondriac ex-husband starts a relationship with her other sister Holly.I liked this movie because is a classic Woody Allen movie with a nice plot which includes also some very god twists and the direction made and written by him. In addition to this they have to be mentioned some very good interpretations such as Michael Caine's who played as Hannah's husband, Mia Farrow's who played as Hannah, Barbara Hershey's who played as Hannah's sister Lee and last but not least Woody Allen's who played as Hannah's ex-husband.Lastly I have to say that "Hannah and Her Sisters" is a nice movie to watch because it combines very well Comedy with Drama and I believe that it's one of the best movies of Woody Allen. I strongly recommend it to everyone.