MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
5 out of 5 stars

“paris exists and anyone could choose to live anywhere else in the world will always be a mystery to me” – adriana

what a lovely film! woody allen presents us with a beautiful film about the most gorgeous and inspirational city in the world...PARIS. ;)

gil pender (owen wilson) is a hollywood writer, whose engaged to bitchy inez. (rachel mcadams) they decide to tag along with inez’s parents’ trip to paris, since inez’s father is some corporate bigwig and has some big merger plans with a french company. while they’re dining one night, paul (michael sheen), a friend of inez’s from college?, recognizes her and they decide to hang out. they go to versailles, museums, dinners, etc., but gil doesn’t really like paul b/c well...he’s a bit of a douche. :P so, one day, after a wine tasting at a fancy hotel, inez, paul, and paul’s wife/gf? decide to go dancing somewhere, and gil takes a midnight stroll through the city of lights. he takes a quick rest by a church, but then an old 20s style taxi buggy filled with flapper girls and dudes take him for a ride. he arrives at the home of jean cocteau, and is immediately greeted by zelda and scott...fitzgerald. gil even sees cole porter playing the piano in the salon, and can’t begin to fathom what’s going on... pretty soon, he’s running into ernest hemmingway, gertrude stein, pablo picasso, and meeting other artists i.e. salvadore dali, man ray, henri matisse. however, he begins to realize that he may not be in love with inez as he thought he was when he meets the beautiful adriana (marion cotillard), mistress to picasso... ;)

what is unique and wonderful about this film is all the different literary and artistic characters that “inspire” gil to reflect on his life and writing, and the story is very well told. well, it’s woody allen, and he does a terrific job capturing the present paris vs. the roaring 20s paris. there’s no crazy porthole or even a crazy sci-fi-esque time travel here, and the casting could not be perfect! (kathy bates as gertrude stein: PERFECT and adrien brody as dali is a HOOT) yes, it’s a bittersweet comedy about a writer and man who does not know what he wants out of life, and there’s humor, sadness, and even uncertainty wrapped in one movie. EXCELLENT. just like a nice french wine with the perfect slice of cheese. :)