This is actually by a clear margin my favourite Woody Allen film. He captures a beautiful story, in a beautiful location, using the talents of a beautifully gifted cast perfectly.
Focusing on struggling writer Gil, played rather unexpectedly but brilliantly by Owen Wilson, who walks the streets of Paris at night and crosses through time to 1920s Paris, where he meets a whole host of legendary artists and writers. This group of remarkable individuals then provide Gil with a whole new list of answers and questions - regarding his life and theirs.
Really though, I don't feel the story needs to be gone into that much - it is sublimely simple - and presented in almost a completely and perhaps alarmingly honest fashion from start to finish - but the results are wonderful to behold. Set in stunning scenery, a stunningly simple concept, accompanied by beautiful music - with a marvelous cast; what more do you want?
As I say Owen Wilson, whom I've always liked but had never had down as one for this type of role, absolutely nailed it - completely honest, very lucid and always with that Texan charm. Opposite him is Rachel McAdams - who I've always enjoyed watching - she is always charming and alluring and always delivers when asked to provide any spectrum of comedy or drama. Here I feel slightly dissapointed as it often came across that, in making her character rather obtrusively and obviously shallow, fickle and aggressive - Allen gave her quite a one-dimensional part to get stuck into. Don't get me wrong, she does it well and still sizzles in almost every scene she is in - its just at times I felt myself feeling annoyed at how flat she was falling as opposed to her interest and plot significance, or lack thereof. I'm afraid I got a similar vibe from Marion Cotillard, who also played opposite Wilson as 1920s belle Adriana. Yes she had a little more depth and mystique, due to the part and the great actress she is, but I do feel again Allen short-changed her a bit. Yes together the dynamic and story of Wilson, McAdams and Cotillard is interesting and is more than enough to hold audiences, but two of those elements did not strike me as being as strong as the other.
The only other slight casting bum note for me was sadly Corey Stoll who portrayed Ernest Hemingway. On the face of it - he was brilliant. Charismatic, dramatic, enigmatic and full of gravitas. But as Allen doesn't seem to have given Cotillard and McAdams enough to do - he seems to have done a bizarre yet skewered repeat with the actor behind Hemingway. He is given quite a lot of screen time but not enough plot device, and there is only so far that his performance can get us before he is (quite literally) blundering around looking for something to do.
Happily however, these are a few flies in a massively glorious ointment, as Owen Wilson is also surrounded with an excellent ensemble - among those feature Michael Sheen who was perfectly pitched as Paul, David Lowe as an inspired T.S. Eliot, Tom Hiddleston and Alison Pill who were stunning as Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald respectively, a surprisingly lovely wide-eyed appearance from Carla Bruni, a hilarious and ludicrously lovely Adrien Brody as Salvador Dali and of course the ever brilliant Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein.
Truly the ensemble cast is pretty dizzying to behold, and that coupled with pretty perfectly crafted elements across the board make this in my view, an utter masterpiece, certainly worthy of Woody Allen's greatness and certainly worth a watch.
Whilst You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger is an enjoyable film too in my opinion, with free-flowing, realistic dialogue, a grounded set of characters and again a stunning ensemble cast - there are similar problems to Midnight In Paris; and often sadly even graver.
Yes, the cast list is remarkable - and there are some truly brilliant actors giving brilliant performances. Sir Anthony Hopkins is sublime as Alfie, as is his on screen wife Gemma Jones - she is utterly masterful in every move she makes. What's more Josh Brolin gives a very stylized performance as struggling author Roy, and Lucy Punch is utterly unforgettable as larger than life Charmaine.
However in terms of the cast, which I know is seeming like the be-all and end-all of these Woody Allen films (though in essence I'm trying to make the point that what is done with them is key) is again I'm afraid flawed in terms of presentation throughout the film.
As in Midnight in Paris, there are several key instances where a good character is driven only so far through the plot and narrative then seems to be left standing there inanely.
Naomi Watts is delicious and deep to watch as Sally, yet in terms of her story arc she seems to be given a massive build up for the first half of the film - then her story just seems to fade away. I can see what Allen is trying to do - but in possibly trying to portray a melancholy comment on modern life and love, in practice the story of Watts' character is a flat dissapointment. So too linked with her character is that of Antonio Banderas, who again is a great talent and for a portion of the film is compelling and dynamic alongside Watts, but as her story fades, so does his - ending in a rather predictable and deflating fashion.
Even Gemma Jones' character of Helena (who if there had to be a main character of the movie she would probably be it) does run out of steam towards the end. The last shot does indeed feature her, with narration overhead talking of storm and fury over nothing - well this is exactly what her character and the film feels like - but not in a good way.
Whilst this dissapointed me, as in Midnight in Paris, there was an element to this film that did annoy me quite distinctly. It appears that, even though he has assembled a stunning and infinitely talented cast, in several cases throughout the film Woody Allen does not pay them heed and seems to have been just assembling them to have glittering, attractive shining stars in his production. Magpie-like he goes for the "hot talent" of Hollywood but does not give them much to do, or much room to express their talents.
As I say, like in the case of Sir Anthony Hopkins or Gemma Jones - great performances throughout shine through, but I feel they are sadly in a minority. Lucy Punch is strong enough to shine through with a memorable performance, but her character Charmaine is written and presented merely as an attractive, yet amoral figure with not much depth at all. Similarly Freida Pinto is portrayed as a stunningly beautiful object of desire (which she clearly is) who occasionally has a few good moments otherwise but not many. A little nod is given to Theo James but again in quite a fickle and almost materialistic fashion. Anna Friel is given quite a bit of screen time in comparison to some, but her character rapidly turns into nothing but a mildly creative sex object. Even with Naomi Watts and Antonio Banderas - one has to wonder whether the balance of being attractive, popular actors outweighed the acting talent they had to give in Woody Allen's mind - that is certainly how it often comes across.
What's more this superficial magpie approach that Allen seems to have adopted throughout this film, comes at the expense of genuine great performances (blocked or at least stunted by the writer/director) from the main cast and even at the expense of not so well known in Hollywood but still majorly brilliant talents such as Philip Glenister, Pauline Collins and Celia Imrie, who have very small, even trivial, parts indeed. Yes I know it is a big cast and a wide all-encompassing story, and I know in an ensemble piece you are bound to see more of some cast than others but I genuinely feel that, in a not so subtle way Woody Allen seems to have just been putting various actors and actresses on show just for the sake of it, and not allowing them to deliver the great performances that they could have given.
I do not want this to detract too much from the fact that I think You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger is a very witty, intelligent and enjoyable film. So long as you don't think about the cast's place in the plot too much and don't over scrutinize - I'm sure you will enjoy.
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