Review of film: “MIDNIGHT IN PARIS” by WOODY ALLEN

2011, 05-31:   

Review of film:  “MIDNIGHT IN PARIS”  by WOODY ALLEN

The movie almost starts out like a travelogue from long ago--  with lengthy scenes of sights in PARIS (the Eiffel Tower, various gardens and Seine River scenes, Notre Dame Cathedral, etc.), accompanied not by dialogue but only by old songs from the 1920’s... 

...  When the dialogue starts, we soon learn WHY the film opened as it did:  we meet Hollywood film writer Gil (the ever-present OWEN WILSON) & his fiancée Inez (RACHEL McADAMS).  He wants to be a “serious” writer, & is deeply “taken” with the “CLASSIC” writers from the 1920’s like F. Scott Fitzgerald & Ernest Hemmingway...

...  Unlike Owen, Rachel is highly materialistic & “STATUS”-oriented.  She not only doesn’t particularly CARE about Owen’s desire to be a “deep” writer, she regularly says things that in-effect “PUTS-DOWN” Owen & his dreams...

...  She’s abetted in her attitude by similar outlooks from her PARENTS John (KURT FULLER) and Helen (MIMI KENNEDY), who are traveling WITH them in Paris (for some business deal Kurt’s working on).  Kurt doesn’t think much of Owen & his mind-set, & “tolerates” him mainly because he makes a lot of MONEY at the moment...         

...  While Owen wants to “share” his interests with Rachel, she’s cleared BORED by most of them & prefers to spend time with some friends there, a conceited “know-it-all” American “lecturer” named Paul (MICHAEL SHEEN) & his companion Carol (NINA ARIANDA)... 

...  They all go to see places like Versailles, and Rachel makes clear she favors going around with Michael & Nina & doing what THEY like rather than anything Owen prefers...

...  Owen wants to MOVE to Paris for a while, loving the “romance” & life-loving “outlook” of people there.  He likes walking around the city streets and “taking in” the “atmosphere”, whether in good weather or even when it RAINS (which he enjoys walking in)...  But, Rachel wants to be around only “fancy” things & places, in complete “comfort”...

...  One day, while Owen is walking thru a street, a bell tower chimes midnight & a group comes down the street in a classic “open” chauffered Peugeot limousine from the 1920’s...  The group inside the car insist that Owen JOIN them in their jaunt around the City of Lights...

...  Owen happily accompanies them, & marvels that the main couple there happens to have the “same” name as storied American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald & his wife Zelda (played by TOM HIDDLESTON & ALISON PILL)... 

...  As the nite goes on, they introduce him to a friend who “chances” to be named Ernest Hemmingway (COREY STOLL)...  But, little-by-little, he sees they aren’t “assuming” the names of famous people--  they “ARE” those people, since Owen has somehow gotten involved in a “TIME WARP”...

...  Owen is THRILLED at his good luck, as the famous writers ENCOURAGE him in his desire to be a novelist, & he happily keeps going BACK on other nites to the original midnight-hour “meeting point” for FURTHER get-togethers with the writers and their friends... 

...  Ernest (Corey) soon introduces Owen to his muse, Gertrude Stein (KATHY BATES), who agrees to read & critique the draft of his novel...  And, at a party, he meets composer Cole Porter (YVES HECK), who joyfully plays various of his compositions...

...  Songs from the 1920’s “Flapper” era constitute an important background element of the film...  There are numerous interludes thru the movie from Porter’s famous (1928) song “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love”, with its exceptionally clever lyrics utilizing double-entendres, uninhibited ideas & SEXUAL “suggestiveness” (“And that’s why Birds do It / Bees do it / Even ed-u-cated fleas do it—”, etc.)...   

(...  An interesting “sidelight” about that song, Porter’s 1^st major hit out of his 800 or so songs:  the lyrics are done in purposeful categorized “rotations” of lists:   human ethnic groups are spoken of in the 1^st refrain {i.e., “The Dutch in old Amsterdam do it--”};  various types of birds are covered in the 2^nd refrain {“Penguins in flocks, on the rocks, do it--”};  marine life is spoken of in the 3^rd refrain {“Why ask if shad do it? Waiter, bring me shad roe."};  insects (& centipedes) are covered in the 4^th verse {“The most refined lady bugs do it--”};  and [non-human] mammals are dealt with in the 5^th refrain {"The chimpanzees in the zoos do it—”})...  

...  Owen is having such a wonderful time with his new “friends”, he wants to “SHARE” them with Rachel...  But, she’s soon “fed up” with his fanciful musings & leaves him waiting alone on some steps for the “midnight car” to come by, & thus NEVER MEETS his “companions” from the age he so loves...  

...  The more Owen goes out alone for his encounters, the more NEW famous people he meets—including Pablo Picasso (MARCIAL DI FONZO BO), his girlfriend Adriana (MARION COTILLARD), Salvador Dali (ADRIEN BRODY), Man Ray (TOM CORDIER), Luis Bunuel (ADRIEN DE VAN), & others...   

...  Rachel becomes more & more “distant” as Owen keeps wanting her to do “new” things, & her father (never having much liked Owen) has a detective try to “FOLLOW” him to learn where he’s spending his increasing “away” time...

...  Is Owen “dreaming”, or is he really gaining “wisdom” and helpful ideas from his contact with people from the past?...  Is he becoming “ATTACHED” to Marion who’s grown “tired” of Picasso?...  Is he possibly also becoming “taken” with an antique-dealer woman who he keeps buying Cole Porter records from in his “real” daytime?...

      

...  Will Owen start to also get “involved” in OTHER pre-1920’s epochs, from meeting some “earlier” famous people such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (VINCENT MENJOU CORTES) & Paul Gauguin (OLIVIER RABOURDIN)?... 

...  Will some of Owen’s “1920’s” friends themselves prefer to live in a time other than the one he HIMSELF wants to live in?...  Is life likely to be truly “better” in a “different” time & place?...  What will happen in his “real (or reel)-life” world concerning his relationship with RACHEL?...

...  This movie (as you can tell from the descriptions above) is a sort of “combination” of a number of ideas Woody Allen has explored in some PREVIOUS films, such as STARDUST MEMORIES” from 1980, some “attitudes” from 1977’s “ANNIE HALL”, elements of 1985’s “THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO” where characters “shift” between real life and movies, & others...

...  I found this new movie to be quite CHARMING & valuable, easily the BEST thing he’s done in many years...  While containing a good deal of HUMOR, it does not “dwell” on “1-liners” so much as some “ironic” essentials as “commentaries” for what’s going on...

...  Owen Wilson has been in so MANY films lately, I tend to get almost “worn out” by seeing him play what in various ways is the “SAME” individual over & over again.  But, here, he’s sort of “restrained” & “IN character” more than usual, & thus I ENJOYED his work here since it in-effect “FIT”... 

...  The other “name” actors (like Adrian Brody & especially Kathy Bates) were also “appropriate” in their characterizations (rather than “standing out” in a bad way)... 

...  And, the way the scenes were set-up (with the old-time cars & sets & songs) turned out to be unusually EFFECTIVE in getting the subtle-yet-apropos “MOOD” for moving the film forward (rather than “impeding” our needed suspension of disbelief)... 

...  Accordingly, since I appreciated the successful efforts in this hard-to-make-it-work genre of time-shifting whimsy, I’m rating it as 8.5 out of 10 stars...

 

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Report on Field Museum's exhibit: “WHALES: GIANTS OF THE DEEP”

2011, 05-27:

Report on Field Museum's exhibit: “WHALES:  GIANTS OF THE DEEP”

      

On May 26-27, Chicago’s FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY held its 60^th annual “MEMBERS’ NIGHTS”...

...  There were various “BEHIND THE SCENES” areas open to the Members (as shown below via a photo of a live red-kneed Mexican tarantula held by one of the attendees)...

...  In addition to that, we were also allowed to see the newly-opened special WHALES exhibit done in cooperation with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa which has a very outstanding collection of marine mammals...

...  With the Field’s usual in-depth procedures, the exhibit (which will be open to the public thru January 16, 2012) gives extensive INFORMATION about the creatures--  their history, evolution, diversity and anatomy:

...  Around 65 million years ago, Earth experienced its 6^th or so mass extinction, & most species of DINOSAURS died out...  As you can see by various skeletons shown in Field’s new exhibit, around 15 million years after that event, WHALES evolved around on the Earth as 4-legged HOOFED animals (as shown previously in a small display near the end of the “EVOLVING PLANET” exhibit on the Museum’s Upper Level)...

...  In time (possibly partly as a better way to find adequate food sources?), that group of animals decided to return to the SEA...  Little by little, their fairly small head became comparatively LARGE and studded with numerous teeth, & its legs started evolving into FLIPPERS, with its tail eventually transforming into flat flukes to better propel them thru the water...

...  The WHALES exhibit has many informational plaques, showing how the whale family evolved thru various extinct relatives into a “family tree” consisting of porpoises, dolphins (most of which have “beaks”), and various WHALES (both well-known, barely-known and comparatively-rare “beaked” types)...

...  Eventually, some of the largest of the creatures LOST their teeth & evolved a system of “BALEEN” wherein their mouths contain FILTER elements (plates) to sift tiny food like plankton (crustaceans known as krill, etc.) to eat (rather than consume large fish as their toothed relatives devour)... Thus, the 2 suborders of whales are baleen and odontoceti (meaning ones with TEETH)...   

...  As you travel thru the exhibit, you can see pictures of some of the fascinating creatures...  Including the small HECTOR’S DOLPHIN (which is only around 5 feet – 1.5 meters – in length, as shown below)...

...  Then, you can observe the LARGER dolphins (some of which can be seen performing in shows such as in the SHEDD AQUARIUM & BROOKFIELD ZOO)...  Most of these have “beaks”, and they always have conical teeth tapering to fine points...

...  In time, you’ll get to the ORCA (“Killer”) whales (some of which can be seen in SEA WORLD” type shows)...  They’re quite social creatures (as are other dolphins), and often swim and even hunt together in packs...

...  To the GRAY whales what migate more than 12,000 miles a year --  farther than any other mammal -- (& are at times “watched” by tourists off the Pacific coasts of California and Mexico)...

...  To the HUMPBACK WHALE, a baleen type that has this planet’s longest “ARMS” (in the form of their front flippers)...  They are also known for the “SONGS” they create and “sing” underwater...

(...  There are at least 8 species of whales whose distinct sounds are known...  They range from clicks to whistles to squeaks to buzzes to throaty rumblings [some below the range of normal human hearing] to melodic phrases)... 

...  To the largest living TOOTHED predator on the planet, the SPERM WHALE...  

...  You can see two school-bus-sized skeletons of these (1 female & a larger 58’ long Tū Hononga male that had been stranded onshore)... 

...  The sperm whale (named for its blubber fat that was one used for oil lamps) is the deepest-diving whale, seeking out giant squids at depths up to 6500 feet (2000 meters)...  But, oddly, its teeth appear to be mainly used for FIGHTING (between males) rather than for chewing anything (in that it swallows things whole)!...

...  To the LARGEST animal ever confirmed to have lived on the planet, the BLUE whale, which is the size of a 737 jet --  around 98 feet (30 meters) long & weighing about 180 metric tons... 

...  Its tongue could weigh more than some whole elephants...  In the summer, a blue whale can eat up to around 4 tons (3600 kg) of krill each day... 

...  There’s a special life-size model of the HEART of the Blue whale, as big as a Volkswagen “Beetle” car (as seen below), and small kids are encouraged to climb THRU the model (which some happily did when I was there)... 

...  (Sadly, whaling has reduced the population of these huge creatures from around 275,000 to probably only between 2,000 to maybe 12,000 still left today.  Most whaling of them has been BANNED since 1966)...

...  There are various INTERACTIVE areas in the exhibit...  You can “design” your own dolphin (by using streamlining and dynamically moving flippers, as shown below), and are able to listen to the VOICES of different whales... 

...  There’s a fine section showing how various of the toothed creatures have developed sonar-like ECHOLOCATION using sound to navigate (locate physical objects like rocks, cliffs, etc.), communicate & find food sources...  Amazingly, some of the sound is transmitted to their ear areas thru FAT rather than “outer” ears... 

...  You can see a video of a sperm whale seeking out a SQUID, etc....

...  In one area, you can learn of the interactions between PEOPLE and whales.  There is an example of a whale named Paikea which, according to legend, “RESCUED” a man and let him ride to the coast of New Zealand, where he founded the Māori tribal group Ngāti Konohi...  The hero adopted the whale’s name as his “own”...

...  The “whale RIDER” legend can be seen depicted on the barge board sculpture below, from a Whitireia meeting house called wharenui...

...  At times, people started to hunt certain whales, and periodically made OBJECTS out of whale bones & teeth that were caught or washed-up on shore--  such as artistic carvings of people and scenes...

...  And items of JEWELRY, such as a “Koropepe” pendant (made between 1800-1900, as shown below).  This is made from whale bone with red wax, & the name comes from a mythological creature with the body of an eel and the head of a bird...

...  Such an ornament would be rare and worn by an “important” personage (in the Māori and other cultures).  Thus, having it would be a sign of prestige and the owner’s “mana”...

...  Another example would be a “heru” comb...

...  And, as seen below, a cloak pin called an “aurei” (this one made between 1800-1900 of what’s probably a tooth from a sperm whale).  When shaken as a rattle, such grandiose type items could indicate that a “Rangatira” (Māori leader) is a powerful and / or important / wealthy person... 

...  Another sign of affluence carried by a leader might be a feather CLOAK called a “kahu kiwi”, hand-woven of twistings made of muka flax + feathers from New Zealand’s native (flightless) kiwi bird.  This item (shown in a 19^th Century example below) signifies protection and warmth...

...  In the weapon category would be a “Wahaika”.  This sort of blade with a short handle (as seen below in a 1777 version which Captain James Cook collected) is made from whale bone and a shell called pāua.  They usually have a carving of a human figure in the crescent portion... 

...  Items such as described above could be found in a treasure storehouse called a “pātaka taonga” (as symbolized below)...   

...  The Field Museum has a display of an entire 1881 “Wharenui” MEETING HOUSE from New Zealand’s Māori culture in Tokomaru Bay.  This large item can be found at the end of the Upper level’s exhibits on “Pacific Spirits and Traveling the Pacific”...

...  At one point, you can view a movie about humans who work trying to protect & save whales who (for various reasons, many of them unknown) tend to “BEACH” themselves on shores, showing how they often make extensive efforts to get them off the sand & back into the OCEAN...  etc....

...  All-in-all, a CAPTIVATING Exhibition that’ll give you a “WHALE” of a good time!...

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