Another Woody Allen Masterpiece!

Rating: 10/10 (8 December 2016)

I dare anyone who says all of Woody Allen's later works are trash to watch Midnight in Paris and convince me it's not one of his best. Writing and directing, as always, Woody Allen made Midnight in Paris in 2011. Starring Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams, Allen examines one man's quest to feel at place in time in the world in which he doesn't feel like he belongs. When revisiting Midnight in Paris, it's one that I am astonished that I didn't own. Midnight in Paris is such an excellent film that perfectly captures the emotions of a man on the precipice of marriage, deciding if he has found the right person to spend his life with.
Just before their wedding, Gil (Owen Wilson) and Inez (Rachel McAdams) take a trip to Paris with Inez's parents. Gil, recently making the decision to shift from Hollywood screen writing to novel writing is inspired by the beauty and perfection that he sees in Paris. Inez is less than supportive of her husband's newfound love for The City of Lights, and would rather spend time with her friends Paul (Michael Sheen) and Carol (Nina Arianda) who she bumps into, unaware that they were in the city, as well. Paul is a sanctimonious pseudo-intellectual who is constantly showing off with Inez eating out of his hand. Needing a break from Paul's flaunting, and Inez's worship of Paul, Gil takes a walk after a wine tasting and happens upon an interesting group that asks him to come along to a party with them. Gil is stunned to learn that he has slipped through a portal that leads him to Paris in the 1920's, the very time and place where Gil believes his soul belongs. Gil meets Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll) and his notable editor Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates) who begins to edit Gil's novel. He also meets F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston), Pablo Picasso (Marcial Di Fonzo Bo), T.S. Eliot (David Lowe), Salvador Dali (Adrian Brody), and Luis Bunuel (Adrien de Van), some of the most prolific people of the 1920's who spent time in Paris. Gil is captivated and completely absorbed by the allure of Paris in the '20's. He is racing through the days with his neglectful fiancé and can't wait for the nights when he goes back in time to his "perfect" time. Through his journey, Gil realizes that Inez may not be the woman he wants to marry and that he must find a way to fit into the time period he was born in. Gil learns the valuable lesson that every successive generation romanticizes one that came before it, Gil learns this best by all of the artists and greats that he meets, many of which wish to live in a different time themselves. Gaining enough gumption to remain in the present and build the life he wants, Gil learns valuable lessons from all those he meets from the past, lessons which will impact the rest of his life.
Woody Allen opens Midnight in Paris with the most beautiful montage of gorgeous images of Paris. I have never been a fan of Owen Wilson and was prepared to dislike him in the lead role of this film, but I found him to be perfectly cast for the role of Gil. The conversational dialogue over the opening credits was so perfectly Woody Allen and is fantastic in each of his films. Allen's scripts are in another world; he's talent for writing real dialogue full of emotion is simply incredible. The score in brilliant, a perfect mix of decades and genres creating a complete gift for the audience. The location filming was extraordinarily beautiful, of course, as Paris is. Allen completely nails the constant struggle some of us have, feeling as though we don't fit in the time we are born. Personally, I am a very old soul, and thusly feel terribly out of place among my peers. Midnight in Paris proves that even if I can't find my own portal to the past where I can freely spend time with Hemingway and Dali, I can make a suitable life for myself in the present, given that I can find the right people to surround myself with. Woody Allen put so much of himself into his screenplays and films, and I for one, am eternally grateful for that.