Sunday 30 October 2011

Midnight in Paris


Owen Wilson, channeling a younger Woody Allen, is in Paris with his fiancee. Wilson writes for the movies but his aspiration is to produce a great novel and inspiration comes in a most unlikely form when he wanders through the Parisian streets at midnight.

Midnight in Paris is Woody Allen's biggest success in years; perhaps his biggest ever. A great deal of the charm of the movie comes from the visual feast that is the city of Paris. Day or night, sunshine or rain, it is a glorious city. In the 1920s Paris was a haven for some of the twentieth century's greatest artists, writers, composers and performers and their appearance in the movie, whether by sight or sound and fleeting as it may be, makes for some magic moments.

This is not Allen's funniest movie ever by any means but there are some delicious cameo moments. Adrien Brody steals his scene as a kooky Salvador Dali and Kathy Bates shines as a no-nonsense Gertrude Stein. I was also taken with Corey Stoll as the man's man Ernest Hemingway.

All this, Paris and the songs of Cole Porter to boot. I loved it.

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