Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance

9/30/2014

Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Romcom of the Year

A hard-to-resist poster for Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight

Magic in the Moonlight is master filmmaker Woody Allen's (Broadway Danny Rose (1984)) 49th (!) movie.

In 1920's Southern France, a nihilistic skeptic, who is famous for his own Chinese magic act, travels to debunk a young spiritual medium, who is enchanting a wealthy family there.

Allen makes it all seem so easy in a film like Moonlight: As usual, he uses 'new' (in his oevre), great actors, who elevate themselves or present new sides of their talent in his hands. Here, kudos must go to both leads: Colin Firth (The King's Speech (2010)) is perfectly dry, sarcastic and thick-headed and makes audiences laugh and chuckle over Allen's priceless lines time and time again. Emma Stone (The Help (2011)), - more fortunate than the already highly respected Firth to be 'found' by Allen, despite the often dubious films she acts in, (The House Bunny (2008), Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Movie 43 (2013), Gangster Squad (2013) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) to name a few) is irresistible, and appears as if she was made of marble at times, seemingly glowing from within. She makes a charming and believable opponent to Firth.
Of the secondary players, Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom (2010)) is a sweet delight; SPOILER Simon McBurney (The Last King of Scotland (2006)) is good as Firth's real opponent; Eileen Atkins (The Hours (2002)) is tactful and funny as Firth's aunt Vanessa, and Hamish Linklater (The Angriest Man in Brooklyn (2014)) is funny as Stone's serenading dullard suitor.
Without spoiling much in the crisp plot, let me just say that Allen circles familiar territory in Magic in the Moonlight to say the least: Namely, whether life is abandoned of anything besides hard science; in other words, is there an afterlife and a God? Unable to answer these ever-present 'stones-in-the-shoe'-questions, Moonlight goes on to credibly indulge in the one pleasant thing that we can say for certain exists:
Romance.

Emma Stone and Colin Firth on another poster for Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight

Professionally filmed by Iranian cinematographer Darius Khondji (The Immigrant (2013)), Moonlight also pleases with its marvelous locations by the French Riviera and beautiful, very well-crafted period costumes (by Sonia Grande (Midnight in Paris (2011))) and cars.
This film is a gift with its stimulating, smartly devised story. One of the year's true wonders.

Related posts:

Woody Allen: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] To Rome With Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy
Broadway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship With Alvie Singer
Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs

Watch the original trailer here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 26.7 mil. $ (and running)
= Uncertainty
[In all likeliness, although the cost of the film is not known, Moonlight has some way to go still before it breaks even, and therefore looks like a minor flop so far.]

What do you think of Magic in the Moonlight?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (14-24)

9/30/2014

Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance

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