Midnight in Paris

Owen Wilson stands in admirably as Woody Allen’s avatar in “Midnight in Paris”, a film that treads down, what are, for Allen, familiar stylistic and thematic paths. The movie abounds in the sumptuous imagery of a city, and is, above all, a panegyric love letter to Paris, inasmuch as “Manhattan” was to Gotham. Like other films in Allen’s oeuvre, (such as “Purple Rose of Cairo”), the movie explores the bittersweet aspect of nostalgia and the longing to be anyplace but the place you are. The story here involves Wilson’s character, a vacationing American, stumbling into a time-warp, which brings him from current-day Paris to Paris of the '20’s "Lost Generation”. Here, the literary and artistic icons of that era appear and interact with Wilson, giving him insight into his art, his relationships, and his existential angst, back in the modern day. Fitzgerald, wife Zelda, Hemingway, Stein, Picasso, Dali, and others, come to life.  The characterizations connect, especially Corey Stoll’s portrayal of Hemingway; gentle satire is made of ‘Papa’s’ excessive machismo and overstated self-absorbed lust for life. Cinematographer Dairius Khonji captures the mesmerizing visual qualities of Paris, especially the chimerical nocturnal landscape, when the Wilson character is back in time. This all adds up to an enjoyable 94 minutes.  At some point, unfortunately, the soul and energy of the film dissipates. Not a great film-but one worth seeing.