For American film audiences of a certain age, Woody Allen’s work pretty much sums up the idea of what an art house film should be. I can already hear the howls of indignation—and Allen’s own would surely be among them—but the fact of the matter is that a great many people who pride themselves on visiting their local art theaters (invariably described as “funky”) really only go to see the new “Woody Allen movie.” The man has become a franchise.
Like any franchise owner, Allen has struggled with quality control. What once seemed so personal and fresh has occasionally fallen victim to assembly-line repetition, especially when he seemed unwilling to let anyone take over his alter-ego starring roles. Once he got past that milestone, his films enjoyed a new sense of ease, almost as if Allen had retired from being Woody, and set his sights on a different kind of art. Since then his output has had its ups and downs, and if few of his more recent films can match the blazing id of his early work, they retain an even-keeled sense of storytelling well suited for a quiet night at the movies.
Midnight in Paris, his new romantic comedy, opened this past weekend at Amherst Cinema. The latest in a string of recent films that are set overseas—something that still seems somehow odd for such a quintessentially New York filmmaker—this one stars Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams as Gil and Inez, an engaged couple visiting France with the family of the bride-to-be. Gil is a successful Hollywood screenwriter who still dreams of writing a great novel; Inez dreams of being married to a successful Hollywood writer.
Under the romantic influence of the great city, Gil begins to rethink his life. He meets Adriana (Oscar winner Marion Cotillard), a beguiling fashion designer and muse to a laundry list of famous artists and intellectuals, and someone more willing than his fianc?e to listen to him talk about his novel. In the meantime, Inez begins spending her increasingly free time with Paul (Michael Sheen), a snooty know-it-all who argues with a tour guide (played by France’s First Lady Carla Bruni) at the Rodin Museum.
A lesser writer would make it easier on himself by making Inez and Paul harder to enjoy, but Allen, for all the accusations of misanthropy, has a warm-hearted bent. Even if we’re not always right for each other, he seems to say, we can be right for someone. And that, in the end, is all we can ask for.
Across the bridge in Northampton, Pleasant Street Theater is screening Incendies, Denis Villeneuve’s fiery adaptation of Wajdi Mouawad’s hit play about a mother’s secret life. In the aftermath of Nawal’s death, her twin children Jeanne and Simon are shocked to discover a family they never knew: a father they thought long dead and a brother who was never mentioned. Together the siblings travel to the Middle East to uncover their family history, and in the process unearth their mother’s past. What they discover about Nawal’s life during the civil war in Lebanon changes all they thought they knew about the woman who raised them.
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Also this week: Amherst and Pleasant Street have had some recent behind-the-scenes changes, welcoming George W. Myers as new General Manager. Myers takes over for Jake Meginsky, who will continue as Education Director for the group’s See”Hear”Feel”Film program, an ambitious educational unit for third-grade children. (More on that in a future CinemaDope.) For the immediate future, Myers is looking forward to continuing the theater’s Science on Screen series, which pairs films with scientists—upcoming features include a screening of The Birds with bird communication expert Dr. Jeff Podos, and a showing of The Fly with cell biologist Amie McClellan.
Jack Brown can be reached at cinemadope@gmail.com.
