Midnight in Paris

Through getting on a car that comes as the clock strikes midnight, script and novel writer, Gil (Owen Wilson), travels back in time to the 1920s, where he finds himself in the middle of the arts scene, spending time partying with Fitzgerald, Hemingway and meeting Gertrude Stein, Picasso, Dali and more.  The trips to the 1920s, Gil's ideal golden age, became the escape for him from the reality, where his mismatched relationship with his fiancé Inez (Rachel McAdams) is on thin ice.  He develops romantic feelings for Adriana, the ex-lover of Picasso, and while walking the streets of Paris together one night, the two travel further back in time to the 1890s, where Adriana decides to stay and Gil and Adriana bids each other farewell.   Towards the end, Gil decides to break up with Inez and stay in beautiful city of Paris.

The beginning of the movie was a bit dry, until Gil travels to the past and met Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and the rest of the artists and writers in the circle, which fits right with the idea of the film, I guess, juxtaposing the dull reality of the modern lives of the purple with the wonderful and glamorous lives of the 1920s. Gil seems detached with characters in the real life, and always walks a few paces behind when him and Inez are with Inez's friends.  His future-father and mother-in laws do not seem to like him that much either.  It is only when he is back in 1920s is he most alive as he is among his fellow people, artists and writers that understands and accepts him for who he is, for his creative mind and wild imaginations.  It will only take a free, creative mind like Gil to be able to fit in among the artists of the past.  The detective that Inez's father paid to spy on Gil only gets more and more lost and afraid in the time traveling.  

This movie is the third Woody Allen film I've watched, so I can't give much comments as in how it is different or the same with his usual style.  And I feel like I can't say there are marvelous performances from Owen Wilson or Rachel McAdams or the rest of the cast either.  The idea though, the plot and the screenplay by Woody Allen is very interesting and hook me in once Wilson travels back in time to the 1920s.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed the portrayal of the different writers and artists in the movie.  Hemingway is a good one, and the scene with Dali paints a smile on my face.  

joey