Café Society
01/06/16 Filed in: Cinema
We had the privilege of seeing this film on its opening day at Cannes, but we weren't that privileged, as we saw it along the coast in Nice. Second best perhaps but still a bit of a coup. It was shown with original English dialogue and French subtitles, which was in itself interesting for me, as I compared how things were expressed in two languages that share so many words but are at the same time so different.
Set in 1930s Hollywood, Phil Stern is the movie executive trying to keep a number of balls in the air when he is asked to find a job for his sister's boy, Bobby. When his sister Rose calls, Phil answers "Rose?" in apparent ignorance of who she is, which sort of sets the scene. Rose's life is a million miles divorced from Phil's, while Ben, Bobby's brother is a budding gangster.
Jesse Eisenberg as Bobby plays the naive New Yorker very well, his introduction to Hollywood being an arranged date with a hooker, a novice Jewish hooker no less, and the resulting encounter is very amusing. Bobby soon becomes enchanted with Phil's assistant, Vonnie (Veronica), played by Kristen Stewart. Love blossoms but there's a complication, a big complication, and they split.
Set in 1930s Hollywood, Phil Stern is the movie executive trying to keep a number of balls in the air when he is asked to find a job for his sister's boy, Bobby. When his sister Rose calls, Phil answers "Rose?" in apparent ignorance of who she is, which sort of sets the scene. Rose's life is a million miles divorced from Phil's, while Ben, Bobby's brother is a budding gangster.
Jesse Eisenberg as Bobby plays the naive New Yorker very well, his introduction to Hollywood being an arranged date with a hooker, a novice Jewish hooker no less, and the resulting encounter is very amusing. Bobby soon becomes enchanted with Phil's assistant, Vonnie (Veronica), played by Kristen Stewart. Love blossoms but there's a complication, a big complication, and they split.
Meanwhile the now fully fledged hoodlum Ben has acquired a night club and Bobby goes back to New York to work for him, still as naive as ever in not realising what lies behind his brother's success. Bobby is, however, a success, and meets Veronica (a different one, played by the gorgeous Blake Lively).
Phil is having his own problems back at the film company, while being head-hunted and obviously tempted by the offer. But will he leave the movies?
This is an enjoyable film with all the Woody Allen hallmarks. The characters all have a story to tell and it moves along in an entertaining and lighthearted way, give or take the occasional romantic upset and Ben's less than savoury lifestyle. A worthy opening film for Cannes, but perhaps not quite unusual enough for a Festival that celebrates films of a type often far removed from mainstream.
Phil is having his own problems back at the film company, while being head-hunted and obviously tempted by the offer. But will he leave the movies?
This is an enjoyable film with all the Woody Allen hallmarks. The characters all have a story to tell and it moves along in an entertaining and lighthearted way, give or take the occasional romantic upset and Ben's less than savoury lifestyle. A worthy opening film for Cannes, but perhaps not quite unusual enough for a Festival that celebrates films of a type often far removed from mainstream.