Loved Midnight in Paris.
I loved Owen Wilson in this surprisingly non-moronic role. I loved all the supporting actors. I especially loved Adrien Brody, Kathy Bates, and Marion Cotillard.
But I hated Rachel McAdams. I hated her in Sherlock Holmes too. She was good in Mean Girls, but anything else seems like too much of a stretch. Her lines are flat and dead. She reminds me of Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral, or Zooey Deschanel in, well, anything. All beautiful women, but their lines just sit there. Melanie Griffith was great in Something Wild where she seemed to play her real self, but anywhere else she was empty. But many people would disagree with me...
Anyway, when I left the theatre, I couldn't help but look at my city differently. Not to compare it with Paris, but to really look at the bits of crumbling bricks, and the odd collection of chairs on someone's porch, and the tiny initials in a heart at the corner of a building. The film is all about art and literature, and it name-drops all over the place. I have a background in fine art, so I was in my element. But beyond the trivia, the film reminds you to SEE the world around you.
SPOILER ALERT
The film is reminiscent of Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo in its time travelling elements. It plays to the message that life is unsatisfying so we long for somewhere else to go that might be more perfect - might be a better fit because we just don't feel quite right where we are. And Gil, the main character, figures this out and decides to stay in the present time. But then he decides to move to Paris instead of returning home to California. At first I thought he just didn't get the message in full, that he still needed to change something. But no. I think he got it. We can never fit in perfectly, nor be completely satisfied in our lives. But they don't have to suck either. We can make changes within limits like moving to a city that suits us better.
I loved Owen Wilson in this surprisingly non-moronic role. I loved all the supporting actors. I especially loved Adrien Brody, Kathy Bates, and Marion Cotillard.
But I hated Rachel McAdams. I hated her in Sherlock Holmes too. She was good in Mean Girls, but anything else seems like too much of a stretch. Her lines are flat and dead. She reminds me of Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral, or Zooey Deschanel in, well, anything. All beautiful women, but their lines just sit there. Melanie Griffith was great in Something Wild where she seemed to play her real self, but anywhere else she was empty. But many people would disagree with me...
Anyway, when I left the theatre, I couldn't help but look at my city differently. Not to compare it with Paris, but to really look at the bits of crumbling bricks, and the odd collection of chairs on someone's porch, and the tiny initials in a heart at the corner of a building. The film is all about art and literature, and it name-drops all over the place. I have a background in fine art, so I was in my element. But beyond the trivia, the film reminds you to SEE the world around you.
SPOILER ALERT
The film is reminiscent of Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo in its time travelling elements. It plays to the message that life is unsatisfying so we long for somewhere else to go that might be more perfect - might be a better fit because we just don't feel quite right where we are. And Gil, the main character, figures this out and decides to stay in the present time. But then he decides to move to Paris instead of returning home to California. At first I thought he just didn't get the message in full, that he still needed to change something. But no. I think he got it. We can never fit in perfectly, nor be completely satisfied in our lives. But they don't have to suck either. We can make changes within limits like moving to a city that suits us better.
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