'Midnight in Paris' Oozes in Pure Magic!

Midnight in Paris (2011)
Director: Woody Allen
Sypnosis: A romantic comedy about a family traveling to the French capital for business. The party includes a young engaged couple forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own is better.
Genre: Comedy/Fantasy/Romance
Runtime: 94min
Rating: PG for some sexual references and smoking.

Once in a while, you chance upon a movie that captures your gaze, takes your breath away, and during its 'short-lived' runtime, refuses to let you go. One such movie is Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, which premiered at Cannes as an opening film.
I first discovered this gem while randomly browsing around on Cathay's Picturehouse website. Guess I was in a mood for some indie/alternative movie. Midnight in Paris really caught my eye with its artistic poster. Its director being the prolific writer-director Woody Allen was a sure reason why I wanted to watch it.





I have to admit I did not read much into the synopsis of the movie before watching it. I have this habit of not wanting to know too much of it for a movie I deemed to be good. And I was hardly wrong about it. ;)

Midnight in Paris has a stellar cast - Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams and with supporting stars like Adrien Brody, Kathy Bates, Marion Cotillard, Michael Sheen, Carla Bruni. Wilson is Gil, a promising Hollywood scriptwriter who is taking a break while writing a novel, something new that he is working on. The novel, he claims, is about a nostalgic past. Together with him is his girlfriend, Ines(McAdams), and her family.

What is exceptionally distinctive about Wilson is his tone - a reflection of the wise Woody Allen. In fact, Wilson shines in his role of being a dreamy writer that yearns to exercise his creative talents in his writing. What better city could a writer be in than that one in Paris! The whole movie sways in a dreamy Parisian state, just what you would expect out of the City of Lights.

Long story short, the movie is really about how Gil walks home alone one night, only to find himself lost. After the clock strikes midnight, a carriage carrying some drunk folks arrives and he is invited to hitch a ride. What ensues next is pure magic. He travels back to old Paris in the 1920s, something he has been relishing due to his "Golden Age" thinking. There, he meets famous writers and artists like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dali, Porter, Picasso and more. What follows next is a blur between reality and fantasy. Humour and brilliant soundtracks weave through the entire film like a welcoming breeze. Jazzy, cozy, enthralling.

The scenery at Paris is such a beauty to look at, even from the audience's seat. Be it morning, or night, the whole city glows in a perpetual romance. And as Gil has always believed, Paris looks the most beautiful in the rain.

This movie may not be perfect, but it is to me, as an aspiring writer, relatable on several accounts, and I enjoyed every bit of it.

My rating: 8.5/10. Highly recommended!

Midnight in Paris is currently showing in Cathay Cineleisure and the Cathay.