Annie Hall

In the film Annie Hall, directed by Woody Allen, expresses many unique techniques of character display this isn't commonly used. The most significant use of character expression in the film is when the main protagonist, Alvy Singer, almost pauses the story of the film and talks directly into the camera as if he is speaking to the audience. This happens a few times during the film and when he does this is usually at a time of conflict where he feels the need to explain himself and his perspective. As Alvy does this everything around him is still moving and alive however the audio only focuses on Alvy's voice and the camera is still in wide view however all the other characters aren't directly paying attention to the camera itself therefore only Alvy is focused on. As he does this he has full control over the other characters around him and enables him to see their reactions to the situation and respond to his questions on the issue.
The scene that stood to me the most that used this method of character expression is when Alvy and Annie and waiting in line to see a movie. A man behind them is critiquing anther film which agitated Alvy greatly because he believe this man had no proper knowledge of any film analysis. As this is happening Alvy takes a pause from arguing with Annie about this and begins letting out his frustration as he speaks towards the camera. This became more interesting once the man who was annoying Alvy almost comes to life in this pause of reality to counter argue Alvy. This gets even more interesting once Alvy brings in the director of the film they were talking about just to prove his point and express to the audience his control over the things around him in aspect of demand.
Do you think this technique was distracting from the actual story of the film or added more character analysis?

(http://fairuselab.net/2012/04/27/mcluhan%E2%80%99s-cameo-scene-in-%E2%80%9Cannie-hall%E2%80%9D/)