Magic has been a mainstay in Woody Allen’s work from the beginning. From stand-up comedy skits through short stories and into his movies, magic, hypnosis, séances and showbiz chicanery have appeared with regular occurrence.
A few pictures ago, he played a magician in SCOOP, aided and abetted from a journalist from the afterlife.
In his latest film, MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT, Woody introduces us to Chinese conjuror Wei Ling Soo, the most celebrated magician of the early 20th century. But few know that he is the stage persona of Stanley Crawford, an entertainer with an aversion to phony spiritualists’ claims that they can perform real magic. Persuaded by his life-long friend and fellow mystifying feats practitioner, Stanley goes on a mission to the Côte d’Azur mansion of the Catledge family. He presents himself as a businessman named Stanley Taplinger in order to debunk the alluring young clairvoyant Sophie Baker who is staying there with her mother.
From his very first meeting with Sophie, Stanley dismisses her as an insignificant pip-squeak who he can unmask in no time, scoffing at the family’s gullibility. To his great surprise and discomfort, however, Sophie accomplishes numerous feats of mind-reading and other supernatural deeds that defy all rational explanation, leaving him dumbfounded.
As the prestigious prestidigitation preeminent, Colin Firth is the epitome of the supercilious, judgmental, cynical and arrogant showman, and I say that with all due respect.
Emma Stone, apparently Woody’s new muse, is a delightful addition to the Allen canon, playing the supposed seer, Sophie, with a perfect pitch between ingénue and intuitive wisdom.
Jacki Weaver, in the role of the dowager Catledge, joins fellow Australian actrines Judy Davis, Cate Blanchett and Naomi Watts to grace a Woody Allen film.
Eileen Atkins as Stanley’s Aunt Vanessa brings her customary charisma as sophisticated family sage.
The legerdemain and leitmotifs from Allen’s annals permeate the picture with particular pictorial referencing to MANHATTAN and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S SEX COMEDY.
Narrative confetti, a bon bon confection of a bygone age, the film is blessed with a look that is exquisite from cinematography through to production and costume design.
Academy Award®-nominated Darius Khondji, previously worked with Woody Allen on ANYTHING ELSE, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, and TO ROME WITH LOVE and he brings a luminous and romantic quality to both interior and location filming.
Anne Seibel ADC previously teamed with Woody Allen on MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Achievement in Art Direction. Again she casts her spell of magical set design conjuring the grand allusion to late 1920s Europe.
Costume designer Sonia Grande previously worked with Woody Allen on VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS and TO ROME WITH LOVE and adorns the cast with an alluring, bewitching and enchanting wardrobe.
MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT is Woody Allen lite but it still has more wit and charm than most movies currently posing as comedy.