“Hannah
Hannah and Her Sisters,” a
warm, wonderful slice of life
from writer-director Woody Al
len, stays on the viewer’s mind
long after the closing credits.
It’s one of those rare films in
which the viewer experiences
everything from humor to
heartache, and comes out of the
theater feeling he’s seen some
thing special.
In short, “Hannah and Her
Sisters” is a masterpiece.
Allen, who with every film,
cements his place among the
world’s great directors, has
crafted a loving look at every
day life through the eyes of ev
eryday people. It contains no
heavy drama or broad comedy,
just the simple observations of a
man who wants to show us
how special life is.
Hannah and Her Sisters”
covers two years in the lives of a
and Her Sisters” hits home
family of New York actors and
the people whose lives they af
fect. At the family’s emotional
center stands Hannah (Mia Far
row), a successful stage actress.
She seems to have her life to
gether, while everyone around
her appears to be falling apart.
One of her sisters, Lee (Bar
bara Hershey), is in the last
stages of a relationship with a
domineering artist, while the
other, Holly (Dianne Wiest), is a
failed actress who cannot help
but envy Hannah’s success.
Around these three women
revolves the rest of the cast, in
cluding Hannah’s husband El
liot (Michael Caine), who feels
drawn to Lee against his better
judgment, and Hannah’s ex-
husband Mickey (Allen), a
comedy writer and hypochon
driac who thinks he has a brain
tumor.
everal funny situations arise
from these in the film, but none
is without a serious side as well.
For example, Elliot’s affair with
Lee, funny as it is, never lets us
forget how devastated Hannah
will be if she finds out. Allen’s
neurotic writer gets most of the
movie’s laughs when he under
goes a religious crisis, dabbling
in Judaism, Catholicism, and
even the Hari Krishnas.
At the film’s conclusion, Al
len says, “The heart is a very re
silient little muscle,” summing
up, in one line, all that had
happened before. It’s a wonder
ful moment in a movie filled
with them.
Eventually he becomes in
volved with Holly, who emerges
as the film’s only truly hopeless
character. Their tender
relationship shows a lot of
heart and is one of the reasons
why the viewer leaves the the
ater smiling.
The cast under Allen’s direc
tion solidifies the film’s success.
Michael Caine shines as the in
decisive Elliot. After such em
barrassments as “Beyond the
Limit” and “Blame It on Rio,”
this is finally a role for which he
is perfectly suited.
The same can be said for the
rest of the cast. Farrow,
Hershey and Wiest create a be
lievable trio of sisters, and Mau
reen O’Sullivan and Lloyd No
lan excel as their parents.
In essence, “Hannah and Her
Sisters” is simply about life, its
sorrow and its joys. It speaks
from the heart with an all-too-
rare sincerity and is over all too
fast. To miss it, is to miss the
most rewarding film experience
in many ayear.
“Brazil” gives a glimpse at the future
Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil,” just
now reaching the Biyan-College
Station area, already has quite a
checkered past.
Universal Pictures didn’t re
lease it for almost a year, de
manding that director Gilliam
(of Monty Python fame) make
extensive cuts and a more up
beat ending for the picture.
When the Los Angeles Film
Critics Association voted “Bra
zil” Best Picture of 1985, the
studio did an about-face. The
release didn’t net Gilliam any
Oscar nominations, but it did
give the public a chance to see
the wondrous vision he creates.
/Jrazil” takes place not in
South America, but in a near
future society reminiscent of
George Orwell’s “1984.” The
cornerstone of the society is the
Ministry of Information, a
mammoth organization that
controls virtually every aspect
of daily life.
In this world of technology
run amuck, the pursuit of
knowledge, has entrapped
man, not freed him.
Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce)
is an ordinary clerk in the min
istry’s records department who
claims to want nothing more
out of life than what he already
has. Yet much of the time he
lives in a fantasy world, where
he’s a winged warrior fighting
to rescue a beautiful woman.
When Sam sees the woman
of his dreams in real life, he ar
ranges a program of “Informa
tion Retrieval” so he can learn
more about the her.
What Sam learns about her,
and about the people he works
for, sends his worlds of fantasy
and reality on a disastrous colli
sion course.
“Brazil” is perhaps the most
complete realization of a future
world ever filmed. Every el
ement, from the sets to the cos
tumes, combines to form some
thing completely new, creating
a society full of bizarre ma
chines, buildings and people.
The viewer quickly gets
caught up in it. Unfortunately,
so does the director.
Because he is so busy show
ing us his fascinating new
world, Gilliam loses sight of his
storyline. As a result, the plot
unfolds at an excruciatingly
slow pace.
1 n spite of this structural flaw,
“Brazil” works. Its stunning vi
sual effects and wildly inventive
sense of humor never let the
viewer’s attention waver. Even
when nothing’s happening,
something’s going on.
And “Brazil” doesn’t let you
leave your brain at the door, as
so many other movies do. Gil
liam’s satiric view of the mod
ern world gives the viewer
something to think about, chal
lenging the intellect and forcing
the viewer to pay attention.
The scenery tends to over
whelm the actors but they all
turn in fine performances none
theless. The cast includes Mi
chael Palin as Sam’s not-so-
trusty friend, Katherine Hel-
mond as Sam’s mother, Kim
Greist as the woman of his
dreams, and Robert DeNiro as a
renegade plumber and sus
pected terrorist.
The controversial ending,
which Universal left as Gilliam
wanted it, seems downright op
timistic given the grim nature
of the world it takes place in.
To make it any more upbeat
would have been a cheat.
“Brazil” is a movie jam-
packed with diverse elements
and wild contradictions. It is at
once funny and sad, depressing
and hopeful. While it may lack
cohesion, “Brazil” succeeds in
enthralling the viewer from
start to finish.
by Matt Diedrich
movie reviewer