While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.
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Reviews
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
The acting in this movie is really good.
In the beginning, for about 4 minutes, you get to watch Paris from all the angles. Nothing in particular. You just get to see people in the streets and some trademarks of the city, like Eiffel Tower or Louvre Museum. After the 4 minutes are over, Owen Wilson, as Gil, starts talking about Paris and its contributions to the artists and, therefore, to the art, and what Paris means to him. These passionate statements of Gil are the earliest clues provided to us by Woody Allen about the main idea of "Midnight in Paris." The film dives immediately into the differences between Gil and Inez (Rachel McAdams) as a couple. They have absolutely nothing in common. This made me think, how they met and liked each other in the first place. Gil is a nostalgic and a hopeless romantic, whereas Inez is a typical American girl whose ideas and dreams are limited to her comfort zone. I completely share and understand Gil's loneliness among the materialist people who don't share his thoughts and ideas. Inez's inner self is the description of our modern world.Gil is a figure who adores art and the artists that lived in the past and influenced modern art from painting to literature. Therefore, he is in love with the Jazz Age. This was a period between 1920-30, where Jazz Music became popular and influenced cultural changes. Famous American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald widely used this era in his novels. It was the golden age of art where giants like Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Luis Buñuel, Cole Porter and Ernest Hemingway lived. These writers, directors, musicians, poets and painters have greatly influenced the periods after them by leading the huge art movement of the Jazz Age. In order to fully comprehend Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris," you need to have a certain knowledge about art and its influencers. Woody Allen makes this movie for a certain type of audience. I fully support this. To create diversity in cinema, it is great to have films that are made for a certain group of people with certain level of knowledge. You may still enjoy "Midnight in Paris" without these knowledges, but your joy and pleasure will not be as great as others.Gil is Woody Allen in "Midnight in Paris." In Allen's films you get to see at least one character that is in the role of Woody Allen. Gil is a successful, but uninspired Hollywood screenwriter. He complains about superficiality of Hollywood films and how those films are good for everyone but fail to be remembered after some time. In my opinion, this is exactly how Woody Allen perceives modern cinema and therefore, he makes this film which is intended for certain type of people. After all, there is no rule that says everyone must understand every film. In this point of view, "Midnight in Paris" the dust over the cinema, given the fact that it is turning out to be an industry that intends to make more money by ignoring the quality.Through the eyes of Adriana (Marion Cotillard), Woody Allen points out that people will always miss the past and everything that comes along with it. From an artist's point of view, a constant desire to catch up with the past might have influenced all branches of art. Present is just the imitation of the past with the available features of today. This influence can be seen everywhere. No matter what era you are living in, you will always have a desire for the past. His love for Paris is also hidden in Adriana's sentences. "I can never decide whether Paris is more beautiful by day or by night" is just one of them.Owen Wilson's amazing acting and facial expressions fill the role of Gil successfully. Gil is a passionate guy. Audience must feel this in every scene. From this point of view, Owen Wilson does an amazing job and manages to spread his astonishment and happiness throughout the film which is essential for the role and for the film. Another praise goes to Kathy Bates for her role as Gertrude Stein. She is firm, strong and right on the spot. I don't remember a failed role of Kathy Bates anyway.The scenes where Gil walks in the streets of Paris and how camera is following him with a wide angle, capturing his surroundings, are an absolute delight.There is nothing better than getting lost in Paris at midnight. A car pulls over and takes you to a life which you will never be able to forget. This is what Woody Allen does as a writer and as a director.
Ernest hemingway lines felt like quotes. performances could be way better
Normally, I would love to give this title a 10 star, but because Owen Wilson only says "wow" once, I cannot. This film's plot is so interesting, going back in time to meet people like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein, my personal favorite, Ernest Hemingway, and many more. I really didn't like Wilson's on-screen fiance or Paul, and was immensely pleased when he dropped them like real hot Hot Pockets. I still don't understand why Van Gogh's Starry Night is on the movie poster because he wasn't there, but it's fine, I guess. My AP Art History teacher, Mr. Grosso really, really liked this movie, he enjoys dialouge over action and this just delighted him.The fun facts in this movie made me feel my oats and the historical references were fun to look and listen for. This movie is a historian's dream and I genuinely enjoyed it. Just wish Owen Wilson said "wow" more.
It's unfortunate that I saw this movie after I had seen Camille Claudel (1998). As good as Americans are when it comes to special effects so are they incapable of inspiring us with European spirit. Midnight in Paris tries really hard to feel and sound charming but does so only with superficial humor. Beauty of French language doesn't stand out as it's supposed to. Characters lack depth and spirit. Relationship between Gil and Inez is so superficial that I find it hard to believe that they are engaged.What bothered me the most is the feeling that this movie trivialized the beauty of relationship instead of reinforcing it with romance which appears out of every corner of Paris. Can someone in such a bad relationship as Gil is in be as normal as he appears? In know this is just a comedy movie, but c'mon Woody - how do you expect us to take anything seriously from a couple in which partners cheat on each other with such easiness? It's as if this movie came from someone who's never been in a relationship or never thought about those matters in depth.Aside from superficiality, kudos to Owen. He's the writer who takes life as delectable and he's the reason for which this movie was amusing to me. I'm not very familiar with historical figures he hangs out with but the way they are portrayed is very pertinent to the movie: all of them are not immersed in some kind of theory but in ordinary life and are able to drink the entire cup life offers. They are not lonely geniuses nor do they come from high-class. They are as normal as most of us are. Inez is the one who comes from high-class family! She's one of those people that will eventually die without ever having lived.Midnight in Paris can make you giggle but more importantly make you think about living life with more candor.And here's what I recommend: first see this movie and then French and European classics. Midnight in Paris just can't compete with those.