Midnight in Paris

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Copy/Paste from my blog because I'm lazy!

Midnight in Paris
Directed by Woody Allen
Starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hiddleston, and Kathy Bates
Theater

This is one of the best films I've seen in a long time. There are minor spoilers in this blog post so you may want to read it after you've viewed the film. Also, this isn't a traditional review, it's basically how the film made me feel. I will say that about ten minutes into this film I began smiling and I didn't stop until long after the end credits had rolled. I wanted to watch this film again immediately after it was over. It is truly delightful.




Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing. Too little and we can forget who we were as a people and where we come from. Too much, and, well, Woody Allen made a film about just that.

It's easy to imagine Woody Allen as a nostalgic individual. At 76 years old the auteur has been working in film for half a century. He has made a mark in Hollywood and the entertainment industry that will last forever. And, as a viewer, it's easy to imagine that he can look back fondly on a lot of those memories. It's certainly easy to look fondly back at my first memory of the man; Sleeper, a silly and sometimes heady film that I remember seeing years ago and loving every minute.

Now, with Woody Allen's latest film, Midnight in Paris, he takes the very embodiment of the word nostalgia and turns it into a film masterpiece.

As a viewer I was thrown into this world, a painting of Paris brought to life in every frame, where the past is a rosy glow of artistic inspiration and where the people embrace their lives and enjoy every moment. It's a land where Hollywood writer Gil (Wilson) envisions himself leading a fuller existence away from the mundane work he does on film screenplays; a place where he can live his romantic life as a novelist and finally express what's been inside of him all along. And when he finds himself thrust into that very world, a world occupied by artistic greats like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, and Gertrude Stein, he finds he is living out his dream.

Paris becomes the haven that frustrated artist Gil has always looked for. He is surrounded by genius colleagues and he finds his muse in Pablo Picasso's mistress, Adriana (Cotillard). It isn't long before he realizes that he had been fooling himself in the present, preparing for a wedding to a woman that he never truly loved. As he falls further and further into this world, he finds himself deeper in love with the vibrant city and the woman he never knew he longed for.

As Gil goes deeper into this world, and further into the past with Adriana, it is through her that Gil realizes his folly. That he has been living in the past at the very expense of the present. Though his adventures in a time past have taught him a great many lessons, the greatest is that his life in the present is a precious thing. It is a lesson that is relevant to all of us, that there truly is no time like right now.
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Finished here. It's been fun.
Gravedig. I really liked this film. I especially loved that amazing opening, with all the beautiful shots of Paris.



This is one of those movies that just makes you love movies.
Exactly, I love all the little cameos by the various famous people, a delightful little film that honestly feels magical at times. I watched it quite recently and posted this:



Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen, 2011)

My first Woody Allen film was half what I expected it to be and half not what I expected, but proved to be a pleasant surprise. Although the film works as a romantic comedy, has an enjoyable screenplay and a great lead performance by Owen Wilson, I also enjoyed it as a beautiful homage to some of the truly great artists of various decades.

I love most films that deal with the creative process of film making, so it is no surprise I was delighted with some of the great little performances of this one, with characters like Picasso, Dali and Bunuel making memorable cameos in the film. The film feels like a dream, it has a magical feel about it that makes it a joy to watch. Owen Wilson gets a bit of criticism for his comedy roles (although I enjoy most of what I have seen him in) but in this film he completely captures the character of a person lost at a point in his life, at times I was able to feel real sympathy for him, particularly in the scenes with his fiancé and friends.
Awaits arrival of Cobpyth and Skepsis...



I agree about Owen Wilson's performance. Imo one of the best performances in recent years.



You called?

One of my favourite Woody Allen movies. Evokes the style and feel of "real" Paris so vividly and beautifully and Owen Wilson does an excellent job as a surrogate for the neurotic-creative type, usually played by the man himself, but makes it his own as well. Like in The Purple Rose of Cairo, another favourite of mine, as well as Zelig and to a less successful extent Hollywood Ending (of what I've seen) he does a wonderful job of taking a finely crafted, wildly original premise and weaving in genuine heart and feeling as well as comedy.

I haven't seen it for a while, actually. I plan on rewatching it soon so I'll try to get back with some more thoughts.



Gangster Rap is Shakespeare for the Future
Midnight in Paris was half of a good movie. The fantasy scenes were great. When Woody Allen does fantasy it's usually great, but here comes the inevitable but. The central romance (the one between Gil and his fiancé) was a misread on Allen's part. It didn't hold any gravity in the film because it was obviously already a relationship about to end, not one about to begin. Besides that the film was a gem, but the exterior narrative was pretty flat.
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Mubi



I found Wilson's fiance, her friends and her family very annoying and their relationship was not really developed beyond the point that they all loved to belittle him from what I remember. But beyond him being at a difficult point in life where he didn't feel he fitted in with anyone around him, especially those close to him, I wasn't really concerned about this element, and simply took at as a plot device (I guess) that allows Wilson's character to wonder around like a free spirit and finally enjoy himself in places where he feels accepted



Sorry Harmonica.......I got to stay here.
I liked this one, it had that sentimental feel of Purple Rose of Cairo a bit-- Adrian Brody as Dali cracked me up
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Under-the-radar Movie Awesomeness.
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