Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Midnight In Paris


When you think of Woody Allen you think of his biting, satirical and very funny comedy-dramas about modern relationships. Most people forget about the whimsical  and fantasy elements he has woven into some of his films. One of his best works is the fantasy comedy The Purple Rose of Cairo and another is the highly acclaimed Alice. In these films he takes ordinary people and lets them experience something magical in their lives. In Purple Rose of Cairo a movie character steps off the movie screen and into the life of Cecilia a depression era waitress. In Alice a wealthy New York socialite goes on a magical journey of self discovery through the herbs and powders of a mysterious Chinese doctor. Even his film a Midsummer's Nights Sex Comedy had an element of fantasy and magic about it.

In Midnight In Paris Allen takes us on yet another magical journey, this time with dissatisfied screenwriter Gil Pender, who is in Paris with his fiance Inez, a very funny Rachael McAdams and her very conservative parents. Gil's life is not going as it should and one night, during an inebriated midnight stroll Gil is invited into the back of a cruising antique automobile and driven straight into 1920's Paris. There he rubs elbows with the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda, Josephine Baker, Ernest Hemingway and Cole Porter. He is even introduced to Gertrude Stein and convinces her to read a novel he is working on. Stein introduces Gil to Pablo Picasso and his mistress Adriana

Gil is intoxicated by this journey into the past and returns every night at midnight for another trip to a different era. He feels more at home in the roaring twenties then he does in his own life in 2010. Soon romantic entanglements ensue as Gil falls for Adriana and has difficulty explaining to his fiance where he goes each night.

Once again writer, director Allen finds the perfect blend of comedy and fantasy. Owen Wilson is the excellent as the Allen alter ego. You hear him saying lines of dialogue, especially in scenes with his fiances parents, and you can easily picture Allen delivering the same lines twenty years ago.

Midnight In Paris is both romantic and whimsical. It is full of wisdom and enchantment and teaches us how important it is to learn from the past, but to live in the present.

Rating: Midnight In Paris **** stars

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