While Woody Allen has traveled the world making films,
taking his talents to London, Barcelona, Paris, and Rome after earlier
affirming his existence in his hometown of New York, this is his first venture
into the glamorous world of Hollywood on the West Coast, previously foreign
territory for this director and a place he adamantly refuses to visit when
they’re handing out Academy Awards.
Appropriately, he bathes this venture in a golden hue of the past,
featuring the exploits of cinematographer extraordinaire Vittorio Storaro,
notable for the ravishing look of The
Conformist (Il Conformista) (1970)
and APOCALYPSE NOW (1979), though shot digitally this time, creating a
nostalgic tribute to a golden era of Hollywood, much as he did to Paris in Midnight
in Paris (2011). Marking the third
time an Allen film has opened the Cannes Film Festival, the event was met with
an article penned by Allen’s own son Ronan Farrow (though some believe Frank
Sinatra may be his biological father) in The
Hollywood Reporter, May 11, 2016 (My
Father, Woody Allen, and the Danger of Questions Unasked (Guest ...)
reminding the world about the lingering sex abuse allegations made by his
sister Dylan, claiming Allen molested her in 1992 when she was just seven years
old, damning accusations that should appall the world, charges that Allen has
vehemently denied, yet somehow he remains free to pursue his own interests as
criminal charges were never filed due to the fragile state of the victim who
remained traumatized afterwards. Dylan
revived her accusations in a letter to the New
York Times February 1, 2014 (An
Open Letter From Dylan Farrow - The New York Times), which was followed by
a strong rebuke by Allen a week later, Woody
Allen Speaks Out - The New York Times, and a summation of the charges in an
article by Maureen Orth in Vanity Fair,
February 7, 2014 (10
Undeniable Facts About the Woody Allen Sexual-Abuse Allegation ...). While there may never be a resolution to this
matter, it leaves behind a moral stain that will always be associated with this
director, where some refuse to see his films, as evidenced by this Melissa
Silverstein article written for The
Guardian, May 12, 2016 (Why
I won't be seeing Woody Allen's new film | Melissa Silverstein ...). Actors working with Allen have to come to
terms with this issue when deciding whether or not to work with him, as Rosie
O’Donnell for one has refused to work with him, though she was the initial
choice for the lead in SWEET AND LOWDOWN (1999), yet so far, he has always had
the cream of the crop at his disposal, with premiere artists literally flocking
to work with him. Nonetheless, this
murky past figures prominently in each and every Allen film, especially when
the films themselves push the boundaries on moral transgressions, perhaps
inadvertently exaggerating the nature of the offense, creating extremely
uncomfortable moments for the audience that exist with no other director. How ironic, then, that Allen is a comedy
writer, as there is an underlying element of personal tragedy linked throughout
all his works that might more accurately be described as Greek tragedy.
Another mixture of comedy and pathos, Allen himself at age
80 voices the inner narration heard throughout, the first instance since RADIO
DAYS (1987), though he’s not immediately recognizable, as one of the weaknesses
of the film is the hollow sound quality of the narration itself which sounds as
if recorded in a tunnel. Nonetheless,
it’s always a pleasant experience to hear Allen voicing his own films, and not
just have various characters essentially assume his voice, as the
autobiographical description reflects his singular wit and humor, especially as
he introduces new characters in the film.
Opening in the Bronx during the 1930’s, the exact circumstances of
Allen’s own birth, accompanied by the upbeat jazz riffs of Vince Giordano’s The Lady is a Tramp -
YouTube (3:50) and Benny Goodman’s I Didn't Know What Time It
Was - Benny Goodman - YouTube (3:19), one would have no recollection that
we’re right in the middle of the Depression as Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg)
grows weary of his bickering parents, as he’s fed up working at his father’s
jewelry store and leery of going into business with his older brother Ben
(Corey Stoll), a rumored gangster who always brings home a fistful of cash,
whose trigger happy inclinations serve as comic relief, while his constantly
complaining sister Evelyn (Sari Lennick) is already married off to Leonard
(Stephen Kunken), a serious-minded, professorial New York Communist Jew. Naïve and optimistic, yet wanting more out of
life, he seeks the big dreams of Hollywood, where his mother Rose, Jeannie
Berlin, daughter of Elaine May and so powerful in Margaret
(2011), calls in a favor from her Hollywood hotshot brother Phil (Steve Carell,
originally slated to be Bruce Willis, but he was quickly fired), a hugely
successful agent to the stars (who never utters a sentence without namedropping
an A-list celebrity), hoping he can find Bobby a job. Amusingly, Phil surrounds himself with
luxury, constantly traveling and attending swanky parties, remaining so tied up
with work that Bobby continually gets the brush off, as it’s literally weeks
before he can even get an appointment.
When he does, the office is so huge that families of ten could live
inside it, suggesting his ego is even more inflated. Taking him under his wing, he introduces
Bobby to his secretary Vonnie (Kristen Stewart) and instructs her to show him
around town, turning this into a period costume drama bathed in a continuous
stream of jazz music. Noticeably
brighter from the constant sunshine, the mood of the film elevates as well, as
the two kids aren’t particularly impressed by the wretched display of
extravagant wealth in Beverly Hills, preferring instead each other’s company
where the is an ease and non-pretentious air about their developing friendship,
much as there was when working together in Adventureland
(2009), exhibiting a screwball style
of comedy, though she acknowledges already having a boyfriend. When Phil throws one of those extravagant
Hollywood parties at his home, viewed as a mansion among rows of other
mansions, Bobby meets some fellow New Yorkers, Rad Taylor (Parker Posey, bubbly
as ever), who runs a bi-coastal modeling agency and her husband Steve (Paul
Schneider), quickly becoming fast friends.
While watching movies at Grauman’s Chinese Theater like
Barbara Stanwyck in THE WOMAN IN RED (1935) or running to the beach in Santa
Monica, Bobby can’t get enough of Vonnie (short for Veronica), falling head
over heels, though he’s something of a klutz, while she clings to her longstanding
relationship that is a soap opera in itself, remaining so secretive that Bobby
hasn’t a clue, exposing a bizarre love triangle where a nephew is competing
against his uncle for the same girl, with Uncle Phil promising to leave his
wife, but backs down at the last moment, opening the door for Bobby who dreams
of swooping her back to New York, thinking they can live in the Village and
start life anew. Riding a rollercoaster
of mood shifts and changing allegiances, the gist of it is Phil ultimately
changes his mind, leaving Bobby heartbroken when Vonnie chooses him, like it
initially plays out in Billy Wilder’s The
Apartment (1960) with Shirley MacLaine running away with her boss on New
Year’s Eve, similarly referenced here in the final scene. Limping back to New York with his tail
between his legs, he goes into the nightclub business with his brother Ben, who
clears any competitors out of the way in ruthless fashion, burying bodies in
wet cement, paving the way for an upscale afterhours club called Café Society,
a hangout for the rich and famous, including politicians and gangsters, where
Bobby schmoozes with the customers while behind the scenes Ben handles the
money. Bobby thrives in this environment
with his nervous chattiness, allowed to wallow in his misery while continually
meeting new people, with Rad introducing him to a lovely New York socialite,
none other than Blake Lively as Veronica (sharing his lost love’s name), a well
grounded, beautiful girl who becomes his new companion, eventually marrying her
and starting a family together. What’s
perhaps obvious is that no real sparks fly between Bobby and Veronica, while
the same can be said for Phil and Vonnie, which is perhaps the point,
suggesting they are mismatched lovers tossed a curveball by the winds of
fate. So it shouldn’t come as any
surprise when Phil and Vonnie walk through the doors of the club, having
traveled around the world in luxury, yet all they can talk about is themselves,
becoming the picture of a prestigious upper class, suggesting people change
with age, embracing all that she used to ridicule, where the couple’s emptiness
and inherent phoniness is completely exposed.
When Vonnie finally has some free time, she spends it with Bobby,
reigniting feelings they each felt had passed them by, taking a carriage ride
through Central Park that ends with a kiss, with Allen recreating that iconic
shot of the Queensboro Bridge in MANHATTAN (1979), New York
Architecture Images-Queensboro Bridge, this time without the rhapsodic
Gershwin musical score, where if anything, it feels deflating—right place,
wrong time. Like ships passing in the night,
they each go their separate ways, only to dwell on their regrets about the one
that got away in a poignant final sequence.
As she did in 2014
Top Ten List #3 Clouds of Sils Maria, Kristen Stewart excels throughout by
underplaying her character, radiantly lit in each shot, showing a complexity of
character, always leaving the audience wanting more, while others are
underutilized (Lively), feel miscast (Carell), or don’t really stand out
(Eisenberg), yet the concept of Ben the Jewish hit man *is* truly priceless,
eventually arrested and given the electric chair, converting to Christianity at
the last moment, as unlike Judaism they offer an afterlife, posing the toughest
question of all for his Jewish mother, like “Sophie’s Choice,” asking which is
worse, his execution or his conversion to Christianity? While there are zany moments, with Allen
hilarious in spots, where his narration especially is greatly appreciated,
adding brief insights into Jewish family life, but outside of Stewart’s
performance, this is yet another Allen venture that continues to be set in the
upper bourgeois world of the wealthy, like a return to Great Gatsby territory,
where only the down-to-earth characters ring true.
Of special note, this is the first Woody Allen film, other
than LOVE AND DEATH (1975), without co-executive producer Jack Rollins, the
legendary talent agent of Lenny Bruce, Nichols and May, Billy Crystal, Robin
Williams, Joan Rivers, David Letterman, and longtime manager of Allen for over
45 years, who continued to list him in his film credits even after he retired,
but he passed away last year at the age of 100.
