Woody Allen's 'Manhattan' follows Isaac Davis, a twice-divorced television writer dating a teenager while falling for his best friend's mistress. Shot in stunning black and white with a Gershwin score, the film is both a love letter to New York City and a sharp, witty examination of intellectual insecurity, moral compromise, and romantic self-deception.
Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue swells over black-and-white skyline footage as Allen rewrites his opening narration four times in five minutes, searching for the right elegy to his city. The film proceeds to do nothing as romantic. The first five minutes is the love letter; the rest is the relationship.
