Ecurb
06-28-2011, 12:21 PM
Jazz and movies go well together, especially with musician and director Woody Allen at the helm. "Midnight in Paris" opens with Stephane Wrembel's jazz guitar theme "Bistro Fada" accompanying views of Paris. It's a color version of Allen's opening to "Manhattan" -- and every bit as gorgeous.
At one point in the montage, it starts raining -- and Paris looks even better in the rain than in the sunshine.
The plot involves our protaganist Gil Bender buzzing aroung Paris with his awful fiance, her parents, and the ersatz intellectual "Paul" (who prefaces his constant impromptu lectures with, "If I'm not mistaken"). In one of the jokes, Paul is corrected on a point of fact by the gorgeous Carla Bruni, who is playing the role of a museum guide. Gil prefers walking in the rain to hanging out with Paul and the fiance (who wouldn't?), so he walks off by himself and is transported back in time to the '20s, where his unpublished novel is read by Gertrude Stein, and he hangs out with Scott, Zelda, Cole, Pablo, Salvador, Luis, and Earnest.
The plot is a lightweight confection -- but the movie is a love song, sung to Paris. Several Cole Porter numbers (although not, amazingly, "Paris loves Lovers") feature. Gil's fiance, museum guide, new love interest (Madeleine Cottilard), and record shop sales girl are all lovely -- but none is as beautiful as the City of Lights, with the warm rain falling across her shoulders.
Next up: Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams".
At one point in the montage, it starts raining -- and Paris looks even better in the rain than in the sunshine.
The plot involves our protaganist Gil Bender buzzing aroung Paris with his awful fiance, her parents, and the ersatz intellectual "Paul" (who prefaces his constant impromptu lectures with, "If I'm not mistaken"). In one of the jokes, Paul is corrected on a point of fact by the gorgeous Carla Bruni, who is playing the role of a museum guide. Gil prefers walking in the rain to hanging out with Paul and the fiance (who wouldn't?), so he walks off by himself and is transported back in time to the '20s, where his unpublished novel is read by Gertrude Stein, and he hangs out with Scott, Zelda, Cole, Pablo, Salvador, Luis, and Earnest.
The plot is a lightweight confection -- but the movie is a love song, sung to Paris. Several Cole Porter numbers (although not, amazingly, "Paris loves Lovers") feature. Gil's fiance, museum guide, new love interest (Madeleine Cottilard), and record shop sales girl are all lovely -- but none is as beautiful as the City of Lights, with the warm rain falling across her shoulders.
Next up: Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams".