Midnight in Paris

Oh, it's lovely.  Lovely, funny, smart, and wonderful.  It's what movies so rarely are.  I laughed.  I clapped my hands in delight.  I loved it thoroughly.  In one viewing, and not even all the way through that first viewing, Midnight in Paris made it onto the list of my favorite films.

I already know that I will be getting the DVD version from amazon next month as a part of my birthday indulgences.  I might watch it again while I've still got it as a 24-hr. streaming rental.  I'm sure I missed things while I watched it that first time.

I loved the way they drew the characterizations of the famous artists and writers.  Some of it was caricature.   Hemingway talked exactly the way he wrote.  I freaking loved that, though.  I wanted to hug him for being wonderful.  Some of it was sort of dead on.  I loved the whole thing with Scott and Zelda, Hemingway and the bullfighter whose name I can never remember.  All I could think about was THE SUN ALSO RISES!!!

I also loved that they kept bringing people in.  I felt like Gil did when he saw Josephine Baker, sort of gobsmacked and then sort of giddy and willing to go with it.  It was glorious.

I wasn't quite sure where they were going to go with it, and I won't spoil that here, but I thought it was perfect. The bit with the detective was one of my favorite parts.  If you watch it, let me know what you think about that.

All in all, it made a couple of very good points, but not necessarily the points I've heard other people say about it.  This isn't a movie condemning dreamers at all.  It's a movie that shows that there is magic in the world after all, but that one needs to be cautious about where one's eyes are focused.  That is something I can totally agree with.