Midnight in Paris

Dr. Yuk-Ching Hon

31 January 2012

〝This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Wonderful script and casting. And it gives a whole new meaning to `romance' as I know it... and it has nothing to do with sex〞,my friend Bob wrote me .

I agree with him absolutely.

Woody Allen is one of my favourite directors in my university days - Everything you always wanted to know about sex; Play it again, Sam;Annie Hall and Sleeper. I thoroughly enjoyed Manhattan; The Purple Rose of Cairo and Hannah and her Sisters but I went off him completely after Everyone says I love you in the nineties. In Midnight in Paris, I'm really happy that Allen is back to his old form, relaxed and confident. The film is such a delightful, enjoyable romantic comedy that it has become Allen's highest grossing film in the US and probably in UK.

I wonder how it was received in Hong Kong. I don't think it's HK Chinese's cup of tea as you have to know the great figures of modernism to catch all the jokes and unless you know your Hemingway and Fitzgerald you'll wish the film had gone sightseeing and shopping with the main characters. Having said that I still find Allen's way of introducing famous figures hilariously funny. I also love the way he pokes fun at the materialistically inclined American capitalist culture and the Tea Party Republicans.

A great film, not to be missed.

And I really adore the jazz theme, "Si Tu Vois Ma Mere" by Sidney Bechet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEIkL4uHmHI&feature=related