WOODY ALLEN’S NEW FILM : CAFE SOCIETY

blake-lively

The good news is that CAFÉ SOCIETY is arguably the best looking Woody Allen film ever. But Woody’s wit takes a back seat to the look – sumptuous cinematography by Vittorio Storraro production, design by Santo Loquasto and Suzy Benzinger’s costumes.

Allow me some more emphasis– lensed by Vittorio Storaro, who won deserved Oscars for Apocalypse Now, Reds, and The Last Emperor, production design by Santo Loqausto and costumes by Suzy Benzinger make CAFÉ SOCIETY not only the best looking Woody Allen film ever, but possibly the best looking film to come out of America this year.

Bronx browns give way to honey hued Hollywood, as Bronx born Bobby is packed off by his mother to work with her brother Phil Stern (a Woody wordplay on philistine) in the motion picture business.

As usual, the cast is first rate with Jessie Eisenberg playing the Woody cypher, Bobby, Steve Carell playing his Hollywood hotshot uncle, and Kristen Stewart as the woman they both share a hankering for.
Also among the excellent ensemble, Parker Posey, Blake Lively and Jeannie Berlin.

It’s about Hollywood for christ sake and he makes it look gorgeous, glamorous and elegant, heightening the effect by the use of majestic tracking shots which are just thrilling.

If only Woody would have let the picture do the talking and shut up with his tired voice over. It seems a little silly and gauche to hire the best cinematographer, production designer and costumier, assemble an ensemble of fine performers and then undermine the whole shebang with a tired and timorous timbre.

CAFÉ SOCIETY is amusing enough, but it lacks the pithy, witty, sparkling dialogue that informs, enlivens and invigorates the best of Mr. Allen’s films. When at the top of his game, Woody even makes narration palpable, as in Radio Days and Broadway Danny Rose, but CAFÉ SOCIETY is blighted by a blanket of narration that is annoying, superfluous and less than effervescent. Indeed, it is enervating.

Having said that, however, I’d rather see a marred Woody Allen picture over much of the juvenile, jejune and just junk that is made and exhibited on our screens, for even in Woody’s smaller works, there’s usually something worthwhile.