Midnight In Paris

In honor of this evening's Academy Awards, I wanted to dedicate a quick post to one of my favorite films and current Best Picture nominee: Woody Allen's cinematic ode to the city of love, Midnight in Paris. If you've seen it, you know why it deserves to win tonight. If you haven't, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING and find a website that streams it illegally. It is worth the risk of getting caught by the FBI and fined millions of dollars, I promise.

Let's talk plot: Owen Wilson (mon amour) plays Gil Pender, who travels to Paris with his delightfully bitchy fiancee, Inez, played to obnoxious perfection by Rachel McAdams. Gil gets drunk one night and, while wandering the streets of Paris, discovers a portal into 1920's ex-pat paradise: the Paris of Hemingway, the Fitzgeralds, and Gertrude Stein (to name a few). Hemingway is spot-on, Zelda Fitgerald is perfect as a flighty but beautiful lush, and Adrian Brody makes a hilarious Dali. Marion Cotillard is almost too gorgeous to be true as Adriana, Gil's love interest from the past. I won't spoil the ending, but it is a glorious homage to Paris, nostalgia, love, and art, supplemented by Woody Allen's very special brand of wit. (And if the plot leaves you cold, you should still watch if only for the opening sequences of Paris... the stuff dreams are made of)

The film has scored more than one Oscar nom: it's up for Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Art Direction (and recently won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay). 

I know I'll be watching tonight and hoping for a W for Woody and Co!