Film A character driven story filled with uninteresting, unrealistic, unlikeable characters.
The people from the present are all insufferably cliché in varying ways, from the pseudo-intellectual university lecturer, to the American in-law with political views from a Fox News Teleprompter, to the fiancee of the main character who, of course, doesn't understand him.
The people from the past, on the other hand, are not so much unbearable as one-dimensional. Even the interesting ones are static; as if the characters themselves are playing a role. The strangeness of it pulls you out of the story like some kind of narrative special effects failure. The stars of the past don't seem so much like people as literary CGI.
And then there's the main character. I just couldn't wrap my head around why all these spectacular luminaries were in any way interested in him. He wasn't fun, or gregarious, or insightful (in spite of how much the film tried to convince us otherwise), he was just a whiny, meek, boring little man wallowing in his own ennui.
I've heard this called writer porn, and I can definitely see why. In fact, I was in total agreement with the assertion until the mildly suprising plot twist where Allen managed to extract some real insight from the story. The epiphany was forced and rather banal, but set against the turgidity of the rest of the film, it was satisfying.
Conclusion: The film was boring and rather predictable, but is somewhat redeemed by Woody Allen's talent.
C'est la vie.
Film Delicieux
French title, huehuehuehue.
In all Englishness, Midnight in Paris is a delightful film. Woody Allen directing at his purest, the film opens with several establishing shots across gay Paris that, all in all, maybe goes on a little too long. Now I think about it, that might be my only criticism of this film, so that's saying something. We follow Owen Wilson playing Woody Allen playing Gil Pender, a socially tepid but chronically romantic American screenwriter from 2010 who dreams of living in 1920s Paris, specifically drenched in rain. While on holiday with his fiance and her pretentious asshole friends, Gil's fantasies seem to come true as he's encouraged to hop in a 1928 Peugeot by a couple of well-dressed eccentrics claiming to be F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald on a deserted street at midnight, who apparently take him back through time to his favourite period...
What I love most about this film is how it captures the simple pleasures of good company. Gil spends most of the film hanging out with his favourite historical writers and artists in quaint bars and speakeasies, learning from them how to improve his writing skills. It perfectly captures the fun of great nights out on the town, meeting weirdos and bohemians. It may seem unrealistic that Gil so easily ingratiates himself with all of these caricatured legends who conveniently pop up one after the other, but it is his fantasy dream after all. While we all may have nostalgic ideals of the past, the film leaves us with the uplifting message that there's nothing there that can't also be found now, in the present.
There's not a lot of overt conflict, but there doesn't need to be. It's a tranquil, romantic film. 10/10.