Video on Demand — December 2011
Video pick of the month
Midnight in Paris
Woody Allen reaffirms his comedic brilliance in his latest film, Midnight in Paris. Beginning with a montage of cityscapes similar to that of “Manhattan,” Allen sets the tone for a film about a comparable admiration for a city. This time, he turns his sights to the “City of Light” where the legends of its golden age come back to life. Gil (Owen Wilson) is a disillusioned Hollywood screenwriter looking to revive his dreams of becoming a great novelist. On vacation with his fiancé (Rachel McAdams) and her well-off conservative parents, he endures various family outings while waxing nostalgic about the days of “The Lost Generation.” When an old friend of his fiancé’s, an insufferable pedant played by Michael Sheen, encroaches upon their evenings, Gil removes himself and strolls the streets of Paris, not knowing that at midnight the figures he so romanticizes will sweep him away to their former days of glory. With the fantastical touch of The Purple Rose of Cairo and the gleeful pessimism of Annie Hall, Midnight in Paris is a welcome addition to Allen’s sprawling body of work.
