why did it shot in Black + white ?

Don't you think it looks beautiful in black and white? I do.









"Reality is the new fiction they say, truth is truer these days, truth is man-made"

Because Gordon Willis is a boss.

cinemapedant.blogspot.com

Black and white isn't necessarily *outdated* - just because it existed before color doesn't mean it is by proxy inferior! It's a beautiful way to shoot cinema, and remember - color was available in various forms very early on in filmmaking - even when color was readily available in the 1930s directors still PREFERRED black and white. To call it "outdated" is to miss the beauty of what shooting in shadow and silver can bring to a film.

As far as the use the medium in "Manhattan" is concerned, in the opening scenes when Isaac is "narrating" his novel ideas he talks about New York being in black and white and pulsing to the tunes of George Gershwin - Allen is using Isaac to show us a New York Isaac's character envisions and wanders through. Funny - Woody's still caught on that same theme even today (see "Midnight in Paris").

Please nest your IMDB page, so you respond to the correct person.

your comment hurts my head.

It's actually a dramatic tool which in many ocasions improve story telling. It's not like it should be used all the time, but many movies look way better in black and white.

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm77301504/tt0079522

Because we wouldn't have shots like that or this: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_muown6tJ9s4/RokTdd1t90I/AAAAAAAAAJ4/BDGXbj0AtrU/s400/Manhattan5.jpg

If it was in color, there would be no silhouette, and the silhouette in both scenes adds so much to the emotional impact of the movie. Some movies are great in color - I don't want to watch Apocalypse Now or The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly without color- but there are plenty of movies I've seen that would look better in B&W, like L.A. Confidential or The Long Goodbye.

You mention Scorsese, so I'm assuming you're talking about Raging Bull. He shot that in B&W because he didn't want the MPAA to go nuts on him for blood like they did in Taxi Driver.

The black and white is used to make the movie timeless. It helps make it a nostalgic look at new york city.

At the start he talks about how that is the way he pictures New York; in black and white. I think it is not only a throw back to the era of golden age cinema, but a subjective, personal feeling he has towards the city, like a nostalgic view that the director Woody Allen has on New York.