Respite

Saw "Midnight in Paris" last night, Woody Allen's new film.


First of all, I love Woody Allen, forever and for always. Netflix is going to experience a Woody Allen surge of flicks as soon as I get ye ol' Netflix.

And, again, he does not disappoint.


I will admit I was VERY hesitant to see Owen Wilson in the lead role. He has a way of making his characters bro-riffic, and modern. Doing that talking-himself-up thing, the "Come on, man...yeah, baby's...." to get his character pumped up for whatever comes next. Not only is it not necessary for whatever emotional current his characters are experiencing, but to an audience, it makes every single one of his characters OWEN WILSON, and not...well, whoever they actually are. Resistance is difficult, Mr. Wilson, but, nevertheless, important.

So...I was skeptical. However, all my preconceptions were absolutely reconciled when the MIL in the story comments about Wilson's Gil Pender...."I wish he would stop being such a defeatist." and BAM, of course, Owen Wilson makes sense.


Not only that, but seeing that Woody Allen used to star in his own films, putting Owen Wilson, a neurotic, romantically-torn, yes and no kind of guy is obviously filling the Woody Allen shoes very well. It works. He works. I believe the story.

The movie itself is fantastical and wonderful. It centers around character Gil Pender, a Hollywood sell out who longs to actually write an acceptable novel about a man who longs for a different era, a different time. He finds himself in Paris with his raging bitch fiance', and by a stroke of magic, is picked up every night at midnight by a 1920s car (aka time machine) that transports him back to the roaring '20s, and the company of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Picasso, and a SLEW of other amazing artistic figures from the past.

These "figures," these caricatures of cultures-past, in the film, are HILARIOUS. The film takes such pleasure in portraying honest-to-God, larger than life, portraits of such amazing people, and the laughs keep rolling as cameo after cameo of modern-times super movie stars portray previous era super stars. And they all do it with such CLASS. Amazing. It's wonderful to see actor after actor breathe and laugh on film. So delightful. The cast includes Marion Cotillard, Carla Bruni, Alison Pill, Corey Stoll, Tom Hiddleston, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, and Lea Seydoux.

OH, and it's set in PARIS. Need I say much more? Allen is superb in directing what I describe as "Anticipation." Instead of "jump, jump, jump," cutting from scene to scene or face to face in dialogue, Allen presents long, beautiful, consistent shots that show arrivals into amazing buildings, places, or people--one character's mesmerizing impression on another. It's gorgeous, and instead of yanking a viewer around, gives us time to witness and form our own very accurate opinions of the subject in question. All--exquisite loveliness.

Alison Pill shows up being incredibly grown-up, seeing as I last recognized her in "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World," and "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen." Turns out she's HUGELY recognized on Broadway, which obviously is only credit to her exceptional performance here in "Midnight." Her internal pace sets her counter the languid Parisian tuning, and she brings honest to goodness reality to her Zelda Fitzgerald. Lovely.

Rachel McAdams very honestly plays a raging bitch, manipulative, in a long-term relationship, who, ultimately, thinks that cheating on her fiance' is acceptable and he better get over it and settle down before they return back to California and prepare for the wedding and move to Malibu.

I hated her so much.

She plays her so well, and I begin to wonder how nice Rachel McAdams may be in real-life. Holy cow she was good at that.

Beware.