"The Bicycle Thief" (1948) and "Play it Again, Sam" (1972)

Most motion pictures have a narrative, characters, and the illusion that the characters control the narrative. The formula entertains and encourages. In "The Bicycle Thief," circumstances---without forming a narrative---control the characters, who conform without the luxury to dissent. The picture articulates no lesson, but supplies a reading of a society's condition in the pre-sweatpants era. It reminds one to care about those whose lives do not add up to a poem, and whose interests are best served by a non-parochial community whose optimal design is still an open question.

The lucky able to be unable to conform have the option of advertising their deviation as the norm. Doing his own jokes and others' jokes, his own acting but without undoing that of the others (the film is directed by Herbert Ross), Woody Allen broadcasts a character who cannot be unless he sees himself reflected against the minds and bodies of others. He speculates in jokes to reap immediate returns (or embarrassments) instead of investing in ideas. His activity, however, helps his fellow characters appreciate their long-term goals.