Nominations: Only four – Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Art Direction
The Film: Unlike a lot of the filmmakers nominated for Oscar gold this year, Woody Allen has always been extremely prolific. Indeed, since 1982 Allen has made at least one movie every year and sometimes more. Some succeeded others failed, but the persistence of the seventy-six year-old writer/director in making intellectual cinema makes him one of the most admired names in Hollywood. And with Midnight In Paris (his best work since 2005’s criminally unacknowledged Match Point) Allen proves that neither old age nor the ever-changing face society has dampened his wit or the ability to create intellectual cinematic experiences.
Midnight is the story of Gil (Owen Wilson, who plays the Allen facsimile with sweetness and expert comic timing), a jaded screenwriter from L.A. on a pre-wedding Parisian getaway with his high-maintenance fiancée. One night during a stroll, the clock strikes twelve and a car arrives that whisks Gil away to his golden era of Paris, the roaring twenties, populated with the artistic giants of the lost generation like Hemingway, Stein, Dali, and the Fitzgerald’s. Gil finds himself sneaking off to the time warp every night, imbued with inspiration and finding romance with a sultry muse named Adriana (played by the ever-wonderful Marion Cotillard). Soon Gil comes to discover what he finds truly important in life as he is awakened and empowered by his literary heroes.
The Odds: Like almost every other movie this year, it is highly unlikely that Midnight will be able to escape the enormous shadow of The Artist and the equally imposing The Descendants, but don’t ever count Allen out of a fight. He’s always been a favorite with Academy voters and stands his best chance in the original screenplay category. The most important thing to remember here is with this Metropolitan love-letter, which Allen excels at (if you’ve never seen Manhattan, get to it, tout de suite!), he pushes farther and farther outside his own comfort zone, trying something completely new and, this time, succeeding at it. With all of the ways he continues to expand himself as a storyteller, one would hope he live forever. No one does what Allen does, and whether or not he wins any gold come the 26th, respect should be paid.
Midnight In Paris is currently available in stores everywhere around Tallahassee.
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