Annie Hall

Last night we went and saw Annie Hall at the Chicago Outdoor Film Fest. It's amazing how well that movie holds up. So many times I'll see a comedy I once enjoyed a second or third time, or 10 years later, and it's just not that great. (e.g. Rushmore. I remember extolling it in the theater and then when I saw it again, except for Bill Murray's performance, I thought, "eh.") But, even after at least a dozen viewings and the default memorization of the script, Annie Hall is a truly brilliant movie. The writing is impeccable and Woody is pitch perfect playing himself. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

The strange thing is that as I child I liked Annie Hall, too. Over half the jokes must have flown over my head. My knowledge of psychoanalysis was highly limited. Ditto sex, Greek tragedy, Fellini, cocaine. And I had never even been to New York City. Yet I enjoyed it even without getting most of it. Which brings me to this article, which claims that we should encourage children to read above their experience and alleged reading-age level. (I remember at a 5th grade Girl Scout garage sale I picked up a copy of Judy Blume’s Forever. One of the busy body moms warned my mother who, if I recall correctly, just smiled and bought me the book. Funny, I didn’t end up an unwed teenage mother.) I couldn't agree more. I remember when this whole "protect our children from the Internet" crap started and one of the banned on-line texts was to be Ulysses. Man, if my kid is brave enough to tackle James Joyce at any age they have my blessing!

The article also mentions the British Film Institute of Film’s list of must-see films for children under 14, but it doesn’t link to it. So here's the link. I have to say that there's nothing too radical on there at all, no Caligula or The Cook, the Thief, the Wife and her Lover, so I can't imagine why anyone would be up in arms. Then again, fundamentalists are strange people.