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New York, the world's largest city, is constantly influencing politics, education, entertainment, fashion, and more around the world. She is the most inclusive and affinity city in the world, where countless people are looking for their New York dreams. The famous director and actor Woody Allen is a very representative one.
He was born into a Jewish family in the Bronx, whose real name was Alan Thompson. Stewart · Conisburg, who subsequently grew up in Brooklyn. Coming to New York at the age of 19, Allen became a comedian from the time he first wrote funny strips, first in the famous two-storey apartment club in Greenwich Village, before becoming a star in the film industry as a director.
Woody · Allen, like his characters in the film, is a presence larger than reality—he's a living icon of American pop culture. Without him, New York would be a different story.
How did New York achieve each other in him, and he in New York? Maybe today's article can give you an answer.
"I love the city, and it's emotional and irrational, like loving your parents even if you know they're drunkards or thieves." —Woody Allen
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This article is excerpted from My New York: City of Wonders through the Eyes of 20 Celebrities
Written by | [Italian] Alessandra Matanza
Translate | Sun Shuangjie
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A yoga class in Times Square.
No one is better than Woody Allen. Allen knew New York better, he knew the depth of the city—he talked to unknown New Yorkers, and he'd been to every hidden neighborhood where he wandered through culture, music, and urban art.
He is one of the New Yorkers and a "voyeurist" who is keen to observe the New Yorkers. He is both in and out of Manhattan, looking at the city with the director's perspective and genius mind, with the sensitivity of an actor and the creative desire and curiosity of a writer.
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The Cosmopolitan Legends is one of his most famous works, and for this film, Allen teamed up with Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola to create an anthology about New Yorkers. In telling the story, Woody Allen is not content to simply portray the personal lives of New Yorkers, but to bring it into a larger narrative of human nature.
His story not only sees through the hearts of The Middle Class and the super-rich in New York, but also pays special attention to those who are not favored by fate.
Stills from The Cosmopolitan. The film tells three short stories of three great directors – Upstairs: "The Troubles of Oedipus", about a man who is troubled by his mother; Upstairs: "Life Without Izo", which tells the relationship between the little girl Izzo and the little prince of India and her parents; downstairs: "Lesson of Life", a painter has a crush on her female assistant, and the loss of love and happiness also stimulate her inspiration.
"I grew up in the lower class of Brooklyn, and I felt like that was my roots." Woody Allen said, "I moved to Manhattan when I was 19, where I worked, got married, and made my own circle of friends, many of whom had great jobs. ”
"In New York, I learned to understand different social classes," he recalls. Some of my friends are rich and even have very large fortunes, but that doesn't stop them from committing serious stupidity and even ending up in tragedy. For example, in the movie "Blue Jasmine", Kate The character played by Blanchett. ”
Stills from "Blue Jasmine". Jasmine, played by Kate Blanchett, who has to return from a life of spending money to the world of ordinary people due to the death of her husband, Jasmine has a nervous breakdown, she often talks to herself, and is immersed in memories of the past, and the people around her are incompatible.
He has never been afraid to expose the darkest side of human nature, and although it exists in everyone's life, it is precisely what we do not want to see or hope to forget. With astonishing intelligence and talent, and an endless love for New York, Allen pushes the darkness of human nature with an original spirit of irony.
With extraordinary imagination, he has achieved witty, funny, and entertaining works, like a magician, making people happy and thinking: What is the meaning of life? What is the soul of the City of a Thousand Lights? Can New York love, experience, feel, and struggle like a human being?
Times Square
Watching Woody In Allen's films, you feel as if Manhattan can breathe, listen, taste, and smell, as if New York were a human being, and had a magical sixth sense—an incredible perceptual force that was almost intuitive, surreal, and even shamanic. Although we can't see or touch it, this invisible presence is all around us, and we can only feel it, such as through his movie "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion".
"The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" tells the love story of two people who originally hated each other, but under the influence of the spell, they finally admired each other.
In Allen's world, everything is related to the mysterious sixth sense of New York, everything is done at the right time, in the right place, and done the right thing. "Life is almost all about luck, and I say at least 99 percent, especially in New York." He said firmly, "But many times people are afraid to admit it because they want to convince themselves that their fate is in their own hands." But this is not the case. ”
"Americans prefer to believe that it was their efforts that won their luck, so they can control their own destiny, but they can't. The truth is: None of us has such power. ”
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In recent years, in order to make movies, he has traveled all over the world, such as London for "The End of the Race", Paris for "Midnight Paris", Barcelona for "Midnight Barcelona", Los Angeles for "Blue Jasmine", and Rome for "Love in Rome". He admits that, though, every time he leaves, he always misses New York deeply, so he always comes back here.
Pure Jazz Carlisle Café at the Carlisle Hotel, woody clarinet Alan and Eddie Davis New Orleans Jazz Band.
As a wide-ranging artist, Allen also enjoys theatre and jazz. He often writes plays for Broadway, and every Monday night he appears with his band, the New Orleans Jazz Band, at the Carlisle Café at the Upper East Side Carlisle Hotel, performing for the night audience, playing the clarinet himself.
This music scene is a hallmark of the New York music scene, packing the audience every time Allen performs. "I'm surprised that there are people who want to listen to pure jazz." He said thoughtfully.
"In New York, there are a million things to do, a million stories to tell, a million places to visit." "I've made a lot of films here, and I'm going to continue to do that after that because what I've done hasn't even touched the skin of it," Allen said. "What do he miss most when he's not in New York?" The saddest thing is that I can't watch a baseball game here," he replied, "and it's a huge loss." ”
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To get to know Woody · What New York looked like in Allen's eyes was enough to see the story he told.
He has appeared in many parts of New York in his work, but for Allen, his story always starts at home and ends at home. "It's great to work from home, and I love it, being able to shower in my own bathroom, sleep in my own bed, and enjoy my own home." He said. He lived for a long time in a one-bedroom rental house and now lives with his extended family on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
A night in Manhattan
"Although I grew up in Brooklyn, my concept of New York actually came from Manhattan in Hollywood movies. There were twinkling lights, the corks of champagne tumbling in the air, and the graceful woman lazily draped in a mink shawl until 4 a.m. He said thoughtfully, "We don't live like this in Brooklyn." When I was a kid, my fantasy of New York wasn't as realistic and figurative as it was in spike Lee and Martin Scorsese movies. ”
Stills from "Danny Rose"
Allen made his New York into films such as Manhattan, Sister Hannah, Anne Hall, and Sin and Wrong, which blended elements of tragedy and comedy. He played a New York-based agent in Danny Rose, and Radio Times is related to his childhood in Brooklyn, along with Husband, Wife and Lover, Manhattan Murders, Bullets On Broadway, Amateur Thief, and the musical theater film Everybody Says I Love You.
21 Club was once a bar during the Prohibition period. The figurines of these knights were donated by the restaurant's most prestigious guests. Woody · Allen's film Manhattan Murder Mystery was filmed here.
To this day, you can still go to the Paris cinema that once appeared in Anne Hall to catch some good films, or go to the riverview terrace hotel between 59th Street and the Roosevelt Expressway to watch the sunrise, just like Allen and Keaton did in the movie Manhattan, sitting on a bench by the river and looking out at the Queens Bridge not far away. In the movie "Manhattan Murder Mystery", the restaurant 21 club where the protagonists have dinner is another place full of historical significance.
Russian tea room
The Russian Tea Room is one of the most prestigious tea drinking places in the world and a favorite of Woody Allen. He once said, "I've been a regular visitor to this uptown tea room for a long time."
The Sherryland Theatre, which appeared in the film The Other Woman, founded in 1924 by the poet Edna Saint-Vincent Millais, is romantic and is frequented by many of the biggest names and emerging artists. Famous actor James Dean worked here, and now years later, it's still a popular place on Off Broadway. Not far from it is the Farm Hall Restaurant, which appeared in the movie "Strange Tricks Out", located on 50 Business Street, but now called Business Restaurant.
Stills from Sister Hannah
100 Greenwich Village is a small house that is where Woody Allen and Mia Farrow walked together in the movie Hannah Sisters. Number 75 is the narrowest house here, built in 1873 and once lived here by actor John Barrymore and poet Edna St. Vincent Millais.
278 Bleecker Street is a lively place called John's Pizzeria, and since 1929, life in the West Village has never been inseparable. These are the streets of Greenwich Village, which travel like dreams through the imagination and bear witness to countless poets, writers, and Jackson Jefferson. Artists like Pollock and the Beat Generation.
Dean & Druka Cafe
Dean & Druka Cafe is always bustling with activity. Woody · Allen's film "Husband, Wife and Lover" was filmed here, starring Mia Lee. Farrow and Judy · Judy Davis.
Also a New York landmark featured in Allen's films is The Dean & Drucker Cafe, at 560 Broadway, in the heart of Soho. It is a charismatic "food centre" that Mia Farrow visited in the film Husband, Wife and Lover.
South China Tea Restaurant is also one of them, it was the first restaurant in New York to operate Chinese dim sum, which appeared in the film "Radio Age". The famous Italian restaurant Lanza has witnessed an important scene in the film "Manhattan Murder", and the place where Larry Davie talks to people in the film "Anything" is at the old-school Jonah Shemmer Kosher Pie Shop.
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Woody Allen's films have many moments of New York street life, and these are the portrayals of Manhattan in his heart. These beautiful images, like abstract memories, are housed in a fictional museum that tells the story of the city from the 1970s to the present day.
New Whitney Museum of American Art
Frank · Lloyd · The spiral trail, designed by Wright for the Guggenheim Museum, became immortal in Allen's film Manhattan.
The famous place in his shots is the incense box house, at 260-266 West 94th Street; There is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where Allen claims to be its long-standing admirer; There's the Hayden Planetarium; there's the Guggenheim Museum, which bears witness to an unforgettable moment between Allen and Diane Keaton in the movie Manhattan; there's the Whitney Museum of American Art; there's the Central Park Zoo, which Allen calls "downtown New York, a place to see penguins"; There is also the Schwartz Toy Store, which appeared in the movie "Non-Powerful Aphrodisiac".
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Allen's films provide us with a hidden window into New York's historical evolution and cultural heritage, and a thousand faces in this "cultural melting pot". "In a way, New York is a bit like Calcutta in India."
"I've loved New York all my life." Woody · Allen said, "To me, New York is like an attractive woman. ”
"I believe that with just a little magic, human beings can be freed from the problems of life, and New York is a city full of magic." Woody Allen said.
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This image is from "My New York: A City of Wonders through the Eyes of 20 Celebrities"
Emotional narration of 20 special "New Yorkers"
163 exquisite urban photographs
This is the miraculous energy of living in New York
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