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"MIDNIGHT IN PARIS"
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Woody Allen isn't slowing
down his artistic pace at all
of TheColumnists.com
Woody Allen is
many things to many people but being the confused, shy, and
fearful individual as sometimes portrayed on the screen, he is
not.
Once again he is an Oscar contender in Hollywood’s upcoming
Academy Awards Super Bowl and being such an unusual man, the
question arises as to who Woody Allen really is, how he became
so successful, and why he's been able to do it so many times.
Any effort to sort out this conundrum with mere words is not
only difficult but also nearly impossible since he has become
such a complex and talented man--a writer, actor, director, comedian,
playwright, author and jazz musician--over his lifetime of, so
far, 76 years. But wrapping him up as a modern-day version of
a Renaissance man probably comes as close as one can get to encapsulating
what he’s actually done.
When I first encountered the personality of Woody Allen more
than 50 years ago, I
was taken aback by his overconfident demeanor on a late night
coast-to-coast TV
show and I thought to myself, “Who does this overbearing
kid think he is?”
What I saw was a smart-Alec guest with a Brooklyn accent and
a brazen, fast-talking
mouth that should have had Captain Kirk ordering up the deflector
shields. But first impressions can be wrong and mine certainly
were.
What I’ve learned since is that every
success attributed to Woody Allen is exactly what he has earned
through hard work and he has done it with such dedication it
reminds me of Sisyphus pushing a heavy ball up the mountainside
over and over by the order of the Greek gods.
Unlike most men his age, Woody Allen refuses to stop working.
This year his release of "Midnight in Paris" has brought
him into contention for two Oscars, one for Best Director and
the other for writing the Best Original Screenplay. Over the
years Allen has been nominated 15 times for the top screenwriter
award –- more times than any other writer – and he
has won twice. Out of seven nominations for best director, he
has taken it once--for 1977's "Annie Hall." His writing
also won him the Most Original Screenplay award that year for
"Annie Hall," which also was named Best PIcture. He
won the writing Oscar again for "Hannah and Her Sisters"
(1986).
Words have been his tools in trade right from the start. Born
in the Bronx on
December 1, l935 and raised in Brooklyn, he wanted to play professional
baseball as a kid. But that idea was short-lived and quickly
benched by one of his other gifts. That was selling gags and
funny stories to newspaper columnists as a teen-ager. When the
uniqueness of this skill came to the attention of New York television
entertainers, they wanted him on their staffs, offered to pay
him more, and Woody Allen’s career in show business was
on its way.
Determined to make it to the top, he legally changed his name
at the age of l7 to Heywood Allen and shortened it to Woody Allen
for the newspapers after it had been originally Allen Stewart
Konigsberg. By the age of l9 he was writing for TV entertainers
(Ed Sullivan, Sid Caesar) and programs like "The Tonight
Show", leaving the sidewalks of New York to walk through
the doors of stage, screen, radio, and television studios into
the kind of creative work that earned him top honors and recognition
at award ceremonies around the world.
Now comes the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Science awards on February 26,
2012, with Woody Allen finding himself and his "Midnight
in Pari" up for
recognition in four categories – Best Picture, Best Director,
Best Original Screen Play, and Best Art Direction. Whatever the
outcome, let me explain why I think he has given us one of the
year’s best pictures and one of his best efforts.
At its premiere, Woody Allen admitted at the press conference,
“I’ve always loved Paris and wanted to do a film
about it.” Thus "Midnight in Paris" is a study
in fantasy – a comedic critique of two life styles: How
rich and conservative Americans spending money on their lavish
life style today in Paris compare with a young writer who appreciates
the rare individuals in Paris of the l920s, the ones who gave
us extraordinary works of art.
The film opens with magnificent views of
Paris itself, taking us on a leisurely tour of the city as it
orients us to its beauty with sights of Notre Dame, the Versailles
palace, the heights of Sacre-Coeur, and finally the neighborhood
around the Pantheon.
The story of "Midnight in Paris" centers on the lives
of a young engaged couple who have wildly different views on
how to live. The heroine, Inez (Rachael McAdams),
comes from a wealthy family that believes the good things of
life can be purchased with wads of money whereas writer Gil Pender
(Owen Wilson), to whom she is engaged, finds Paris a terrific
inspiration for a writer because of its history, art and culture.
This puts a stress on their relationship. Neither one likes what
the other is doing, and the final outcome of this relationship
is not hard to guess.
"Midnight in Paris" reaches its peak when Gil takes
the yellow brick road to the Land of Oz. He decides one night
to wander the streets of Paris and stops to rest on a staircase.
Alone in a quiet neighborhood where its streets are empty of
traffic, he hears the bells toll midnight and then an antique
Peugeot pulls up to the curb. The occupants of this classic vehicle
beckon him over for a ride and on accepting Gil is taken away
to a party in the 1920s.
While at first unbelievable, Gil Pender suddenly is introduced
to famous writers, artists, poets, and painters of the ‘20s
who are as alive as he is. To his surprise he meets F. Scott
Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker,
and Alice B. Toklas on his first visit and on subsequent encounters
he talks with Ernest Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, Pablo Picasso, Salvador
Dali, and many more. When Hemingway arranges for Gertrude Stein
to critique Gil's book, Gil feels like the happiest man on earth.
Here is a fun film because "Midnight in Paris" invites
you to exercise your
imagination and enjoy the experience that follows. As I am someone
who long ago
walked the streets of Paris to find Ernest Hemingway’s bar,
had Salvador Dali
seated next to me on a train’s parlor car, and saw Josephine
Baker on stage while she was still alive, I can verify how nice
it feels to be close to those whose talent has brightened our
lives.
Maybe what Woody Allen has given us in this film isn’t such
a fantasy after all.
The truth is that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s
mind is still here for you to reach in his books like "The
Great Gatsby." Cole Porter’s lyrics are still there
for us on a recording of his "Let’s Do It" and
Pablo Picasso’s art can still be seen in living
color in his Portrait of Gertrude Stein, on
display at the Museum of Modern Art in New
York. These are a few examples, but there are many more.
As Woody Allen tries to tell us in the conclusion of this picture,
the Golden Age may be closer than you think. It can be right
here before us if we only look hard enough. So pay close attention.
As Woody tells us in this story, when you’re
in love in Paris that’s about as good as it gets, especially
when it rains!
©2012 by Gordon Greb. The caricature of the author is by the author. This column first posted Feb. 20, 2012.
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