Friday, June 10, 2011

Midnight in Paris

If you are a Francophile, just love Paris, love Woody Allen movies, love the 20's and all the fascinating and talented creatives of that era,  are a fan of Cole Porter,  love the idea of walking in the rain in cities you love or are a romantic like me, who believes the magic of certain people and places truly feed your soul, or even that there is magic in the witching hour of midnight.....then this movie is for you.

With a great cast of characters and a performance by Owen Wilson that does a better Woody Allen than Woody Allen and aided by the, always enchanting, onscreen presence of  Marion Cotillard, this movie just had that little spark that filled me up and sent me home feeling I'd spent time with someone lovely and entertaining.

Besides, any movie that has Kathy Bates in it already has at least one saving grace and, as Gertrude Stein, she was delightful, as were the host of other actors that portrayed all the luminaries of the past. Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Carla Bruni, Mimi Kennedy and company as characters in the present also did a nice job, but it was the world and character actors that came alive at the stroke of midnight that  I loved the most.

The cinematography and the costumes for this movie are wonderful and of course, with Paris as the terrain on which the people and the clothing are displayed and photographed, well it's a hard combination to beat.

This is one I'll probably add to my collection of small, "feel good" movies such as Moonstruck,  Houseboat (Cary Grant and Sofia Loren),  Bell, Book and Candle (Jimmy Stewart/Kim Novak),  Barefoot in the Park, Sunday in New York, Gigi, Victor/ Victoria, Breakfast at Tiffany, Roman Holiday, Pal Joey,  Pink Panther, Vertigo,  Same Time Next Year, The Philadelphia Story,  etc.... that are evocative of places, music and themes that just make me feel good.

Woody Allen has done another very watchable and enjoyable follow up to Vicky Christina Barcelona and the witty Whatever Works and I recommend it!


Songs out of tune, the words always a little wrong...Canzoni Stonate

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