Dir. Woody Allen (2017)
Rated PG-13 So, this is one of the only Woody Allen movies I have ever seen. And it was so odd! He does that on purpose, apparently. So basically, Kate Winslet (I forget what her character's name was) works and lives on Coney Island in the 1950s. She lives in a small one floor apartment with her husband, Humpty, and her pyromaniac son, Richie. Mickey (Justin Timberlake) is a lifeguard at the Coney Island beach, but he acts as the narrator for the film and also Ginny's (that's Winslet) lover. The entire movie is basically about Ginny's affair with Mickey and her struggle of losing her beauty and youth. She is losing confidence in herself, and this gets worse when Humpty's long lost daughter, Carolina, arrives on the scene after being estranged from him for years. She is on the run from the mob after leaving her husband. Ginny is totally wrapped up in this affair with Mickey, but things turn south when Carolina shows up. Mickey slowly starts falling in love with her, which causes Ginny to go into a downfall. She only had Mickey left to make her feel like she was still youthful and beautiful, and when he left her for another woman, she was enraged. Ginny then calls and reveals Carolina's whereabouts to the mob while her and Mickey are on a date, and Carolina then goes missing. The movie ends with Ginny back to living her bland life with her husband and son, now with an inescapable guilt of giving away Carolina. This movie felt really odd because it felt more like a play instead of a movie. The lighting, staging, and camera work all added to this. I was actually getting really hard Streetcar Named Desire vibes from it. It focused almost only on dialogue, and the only music that played was the music from Coney Island in the distance. I think it was mostly quiet to emphasize the emotions going on in the movie, which isn't that deep anymore because we've all seen that done before. There was also an odd thing that happened with the lighting. Every time Ginny had conflict with her husband or Mickey, a bright red light was either coming in through the window shades or in the distance. Whenever she was doubting herself and feeling like she was losing her youth, a blue light shown. That just seems like a typical thing that happens in plays. It reminded me of the blue piano from Streetcar. I can't say I liked the movie, but I guess I'm glad that I watched another Woody Allen so I can know him better as a director (not a person). The one thing that I did like about this movie was the aesthetic and cinematography, but when that's all that is good in a movie, it's not enough to make me like it. If you've seen Allen movies before, then I don't recommend this movie. If you haven't, it might be an OK one to watch.
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AuthorCasey Land Archives
January 2018
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