Midnight in Paris

Rating: 7/10 (22 May 2016)

One night in Paris, Gil, the protagonist, decides to go for a walk. During his walk, he discovers a way to time travel back to the 1920s, which is a time period that he believes he was supposed to be born in. Traveling back to the 1920s, Gil meets the great writers of this time: Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and many others. He also encounters the great artists of this time: Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí. Gil, who is struggling with the writing of his novel, seeks advice from these writers and artists, mainly Gertrude Stein. Gertrude Stein reads over his novel and gives him advice, which he takes and uses to fix his novel. As a result, Stein tells him his novel is turning out great. During his stay in the 1920s, he falls in love with a woman named Adriana, even though he is engaged to another woman. Similar to Gil, Adriana has a "Golden Age," which is a time period that is preferred over the present. Her present is the 1920s, but her "Golden Age" is the 1890s. Because of the difference in their time preferences, the two cannot be together. Furthermore, the woman that Gil is engaged to has a love for the present, and Gil has a love for the 1920s. Therefore, Gil finds himself breaking up with his fiancé in the end. Whatever happens with Gil's novel is still unknown. That is where the audience is left hanging.
The acting and the dialogue was on point. I could definitely see Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, and Salvador Dalí in the actors; this is how I imagined these people to be. Since the acting and the dialogue was on point, I felt a connection with Gil: I wanted to live in the 1920s and strike up conversations with these writers and artists. The comedy helped to make the movie less serious and more enjoyable to watch. But without the comedy, the movie would have been very plain. Most of the time, the plot was not predictable. At other times, the plot was predictable and cliché. It might have been better if there was more of a focus on Gil's progress in writing his novel. For most movies nowadays, there is the love aspect, which had a small presence in this movie. If there is a love aspect to a movie, the love should have a strong appearance. But in Midnight in Paris, love seems to be a small thing. Overall, Midnight in Paris seems to be mostly about visiting the 1920s. Therefore, there seems to be not much of a plot. What is the main point of this movie? It is possible that Gil can be a reflection of our nostalgic selves. We all feel nostalgic at times.