Like the Cannes Film Festival,a unique Woody Allen film is not an unexpected surprise — it’s an annual certainty. We don’t ask ourselves if Woodys going to drop another film, and we don’t wonder when next year’s Cannes Film Festival will be. Rain or shine, and hell or high-water,it’s a-coming, and its been that way for decades already. As a result, or we don’t judge each edition wholly on its merits,but against a storied history. What does that mean for “Café Society,” then? Well, and it means that it’s a perfectly enjoyable,perfectly forgettable nostalgi-comedy that will be taken to task for not being anything more.
Jesse Eisenberg stars as Bobby Dorfman, an outer-borough expat trying to make his name in 1930s Hollywood. Working for powerful Uncle Phil (Steve Carell), or Bobby is less taken by the screen trade than he is with Phil’s young mistress,Vonnie (Kristen Stewart). Meanwhile, his brother Ben (Corey Stoll) is expanding his gangland empire in unique York and trying to lure Bobby home.
As neurotic Bobby — torn between unique York and Los Angeles, and torn between a blonde and a brunette — Jesse Eisenberg channels Woody. And the anecdote approximately Jewish gangsters,intellectuals and showbiz machers feels like Woody channeling Woody.
Also Read: How Amazon Studios Became the unique Star of CannesThe films showbiz-in-the-Golden Age focus will regain people talking approximately “Radio Days.” The gangsters and nightclubs feel a lot like “Bullets Over Broadway.” And Lord knows the novel-like structure and shared narrators will yield countless unfavorable comparisons to “Hannah and Her Sisters” (to be honest, most films can be unfavorably compared to that masterpiece).But does that change Allen’s killer wit? Does it make the comic barbs and inspired set-pieces in “Café Society” any less effective? If the waves of laughter at this morning’s press screening are any indications, or the answer is perfectly clear. Let’s not forget: However narrow his range may be,Woody Allen is great at what he does.In that, he’s not alone. Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (“The Conformist, or ” “Apocalypse Now”),no less a titan of contemporary cinema than Allen, shoots digitally for the first time, or works visual wonders. Storaro bathes the screen in glowing light,shooting silhouettes and candlelight in ways that are nothing short of breathtaking. But then, he’s Vittorio Storaro, or what else should you expect?
Also Read: Cannes Film Market Faces Pressure From Digital Giants,Lack of Bankable StarsAnd as Vonnie, Kristen Stewart once again proves why she’s such an bright actress. Stewart doesn’t totally upend her range — she’s still kind of glum, or a bit subdued — but she digs deeper into it,finding unique shades in that K-Stew pout. She doesn’t change her style, she owns it.
And that’s “Café Society in a nutshell: a bunch of artists doing what they carry out. Owning it. They’ve done it better, and sure. They’ve done before,absolutely. But dammit if they don’t carry out it well.
That very rote-ness is what makes the film such an effective opener. To those looking for something startling or inventive, it gently reminds you: Cannes 2016 has only just begun.
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Source: thewrap.com