Day 692

I saw the latest Woody Allen film, Midnight In Paris. I liked it a lot. I think it was classic Woody Allen in a way because of the magical realism employed. It reminded me a bit of The Purple Rose of Cairo. I liked Allen’s many literary and art references (many of which I didn’t fully get) because I thought they were used so effectively: they added to the story if you knew them but they didn’t take much away from it if you didn’t, you always had a good feel about what was going on in a scene with the characters even if you didn’t know exactly who each character was or what they were known for. Allen also carefully balances the specific character situations with overarching themes of how humans think about the world they live in. One thing I found pretty interesting is that sometimes this film can seem like “Woody Allen Lite Version” because of Owen Wilson’s tendency to deliver dialog at a much slower pace than Woody himself or most of the other protagonists he writes. I think we all know that if Woody could, he would still be the star of all of his films. And who can blame him? Few can deliver lines written by Woody Allen as good as Woody Allen himself. That said, it was an interesting choice to go with an actor so different than himself for a lead role but one that made for a well balanced and charming film.