Review of Café Society (2016) by Frame R — 03 Apr 2018

Woody Allen creeps back into the theatres and takes his sweet time to get it released internationally.

Woody is one of the few directors who is lucky enough to release a film per year (he has done just so for the last two decades). This astounding prolificacy, though somewhat profitable, has a downside: just about one out of three movies manage to be very good and Oscar-worthy (Blue Jasmine, Midnight in Paris, Vicky Cristina) while the others become forgetful duds (Irrational Man, Magic in the Moonlight, To Rome with Love). Café Society is part of the latter, being consistent with the more recent entrances in his filmography: elevator music movies: you don't really know if there's a plot, your just go with the flow, to where you're expected too and then the movie just ends. Like a lot of the times, Woody, trying to convey some idea that he has no clue how to portray, gets easily lost in his sense of story because of the cynical and pseudo-intellectual way he chooses to look at it. This makes us leaving the theatre thinking "Ok, that was good but... what's the point?" But maybe the biggest problem with it is the casting of the "romantic pairing". Eisenberg and Stewart suffer from the same disease: consensual typecasting. Across their filmography, they have done the same role with small twitches here and there to make it look different, even though it's not. It annoys me that an actor keeps repeating itself and that when a director wants a jittery and fast-talking nerve wrecking person they rush to get Eisenberg, instead of another actor who has never played such role which would be much more interesting. With some actors I actually don't mind typecasting because they're able to keep it fresh but for them has gotten old. Conversely, Carell and Blake Lively are incredibly perfect for their roles, one bringing a nuanced comedic style and the other a beauty and right-of-the-30s look. What the movie does best is maintaining a gorgeous and admittedly plastic cinematography to fit the decade and keeping a consistent mood throughout, keeping you steadily amused. It completely transports you to Hollywood's golden era in a glossy and glamorous style that few can emulate.