Midnight In Paris – Woody Allen, writer/director, 2011
JOHN: The movie begins with a ten minute picture montage (with vintage jazz) of city scenes—morning, noon, rain, by the river, streets, intersections lit by streetlights at night. This is not Manhattan, but Paris. Paris today and the Paris of Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Dali, Gertrude Stein and Hemingway. And not only we, but Woody Allen has arrived. Oh, there were some unpleasant detours on the long journey—Stardust Memories, Interiors, Hollywood Ending. Self-conscious efforts to be serious, to be profound. But in the last few years there were also Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Match Point.
The audience where Bob Wake and I saw the film (The Sundance Theater in Madison) laughed at all the right places which were intelligent, literary references. I’m not sure the movie would move someone who wasn’t already hungry for the days when we were young and enjoyed these artists (especially the long nights we spent arguing about their work). As I walked out of the theater I said, “What? We’re in Madison, not Paris!” and despite the film’s theme about living in the present, I was disappointed not to be in the City of Light. Thanks to Allen, I will now always be able to return there.
GO, GO, GO, GO (4 GOs out of 4)
SPANKY: Owen Wilson is more than a Woody Allen stand-in, he is himself, and scenes of him sauntering through Paris are almost enough to watch in themselves. All the performances are fine, especially the Hemingway actor and Adrien Brody as Dali, but the film starts to drag a little once we understand its conceit, until the plot kicks in and Wilson’s character has to choose between his fiancé and Picasso’s mistress, between the present and the idealized past. The ending is very clever and satisfying. This is not an homage to any other film. It is Allen doing what he has always done best, but without hitting us over the head with it. Midnight in Paris is an experience to savor. There are still movies; there are still audiences. And at least one writer/director treats us the way we deserve.
BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK (4 BARKS out of 4)
Great review, John. I’ll be going again to this one. Loved everything about it, even the blunt one-liners about Tea-Party Republicans being “morons” and “brain-dead zombies.” The remarks weren’t even jokes, exactly, just Woody Allen being cranky and topical in a film that otherwise feels timeless.