Thursday, August 18, 2011

Movie Review: Midnight in Paris

Nostalgia is denial - denial of the painful present... the name for this denial is golden age thinking - the erroneous notion that a different time period is better than the one one's living in. It's a flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present. - Paul, Midnight in Paris


Photo taken from Bonjour Paris


Who doesn't love Woody Allen movies? I know I do. Well, 'Midnight in Paris' has easily made it into my top 5 Woody Allen movies, which also includes 'Annie Hall', 'Hannah and Her Sisters', 'Match Point', and 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona'.


In 'Midnight in Paris', Owen Wilson plays a guy named Gil who is set to marry Inez (Rachel McAdams). They travel to Paris before the wedding, a city that Gil absolutely loves (who doesn't, really?); but once they get there, they start realizing that they have nothing in common. At all.


Photo taken from Just Jared


Mistakenly described as a "romantic comedy" - or rom-com, for short - this movie actually gives its viewers a much deeper look at how people are somehow wired to be unhappy with their current lives - and it's true. Ask anybody you know whether they would rather live in an era gone past, and most of them will say yes.


Of course, I might just be biased because I agree with Owen Wilson and everything he says in the movie. :p And with Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams reunited after 'The Wedding Crashers', I simply could not resist watching this.


That Paris exists and anyone could choose to live anywhere else in the world will always be a mystery to me. - Adriana, Midnight in Paris


Photo taken from The Jetshopper


Of course, during the movie, some emphasis is set on the beautiful sights and sounds of Paris during the day, at night and in the rain (I mean, who could resist filming there without capturing the sights, right?), but the story mostly focuses on the lives of some of the most famous artists of the 1920's, which Gil refers to as 'the golden age'.


Ernest Hemingway, for one, makes an appearance, along with F. Scott Fitzgerald (played by Tom Hiddleston from 'Thor' fame) and Zelda Fitzgerald (played by Alison Pill from 'Scott Pilgrim' fame). Gertrude Stein and Salvador Dali (apparently pronounced da-lee as opposed to dahlia) played by Kathy Bates and Adrien Brody, respectively. And, of course, there is Marion Cotillard who plays Adriana, Pablo Picasso's alleged muse for his painting. T.S. Eliot and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec also make appearances; though, sadly, Vincent Van Gogh does not. (What’s Starry Starry Night doing on the poster, then??)


Now, if none of the names I just mentioned ring a bell to you, you might find yourself completely lost while watching this movie and might not even enjoy it. My boyfriend kept asking me 'Who?', 'Who?', 'Whooo???' every time I reacted when someone legendary popped up, so… If you aren't a big fan of the arts, you might want to skip this movie and watch something else instead.


But back to being unhappy with our current lives… it's sort of true, isn't it? Don't you wish you were born in a different era/place/lifetime? Share your thoughts! :)

3 comments:

  1. Taking my Interior Design board very soon! This is definitely a must see movie. Is it showing now? :)

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  2. Hi, Gillian!

    Thanks for dropping by my blog. Midnight in Paris isn't showing here yet. I only saw it at a special pre-screening, along with Bad Teacher (review for that here: http://wonderwomanrises.blogspot.com/2011/08/movie-review-bad-teacher.html). I think it'll be out at the end of the month, though. Make sure you see it. I'm sure you'll love it. :)

    P.S. Followed you btw. x

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