A Rainy Day in New York (Woody Allen, 2019)

[knives]

American liberals (the only people here who care about WA either way) are going through a “thing” these past couple of years. It’s been very strange, particularly when I talk to European friends who are just constantly perplexed.

Yeah, A Mancunian (he'd hate me calling him that) friend of mine who came stateside recently couldn't stop talking about the various extremities without thought he found in America.

[Cremildo]

The film is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

[mfunk9786]

A lot of discussion going on in social media land about how Timothée Chalamet's character in the film is named "Gatsby Welles," which, all respect to Allen, is the wildest shit I've ever heard

[domino harvey]

No one tell Film Twitter about Groucho Marx’s character names

[mfunk9786]

I knew you'd have a defense of this terrible character name! It's horrible on a number of levels if the tone of the film is as sincere as it seems in the trailer, but maybe it'll be an out and out farce and all will be forgiven

[domino harvey]

I mean, it’s a dumb name, but not to any degree that I think it’s worth mocking it, especially since we don’t know how his character comes off (it may be justified in highlighting Chalamet’s pomposity, or evidence of his parents passing on literary aspirations, or so on). This isn’t like Arnold Schwarzenegger being called “Jericho Cane” or whatever— at least I hope!

[knives]

Frankly that's not even the weirdest name in an Allen drama.

[spectre]

Seems some reviews are starting to roll in for this. The two big US trade publications loathe it, but a more positive report from Little White Lies. Like most, I find late Allen pretty hit and miss, but I'm not swayed by the harsher critiques (and, in any case, Mintzer's piece is little more than a hit job) – this one still sounds pretty enjoyable to me.

https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/a ... 203313180/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/revie ... ew-1234052
https://lwlies.com/reviews/a-rainy-day-in-new-york/

[Nasir007]

Lat period Woody Allen is so absolutely and utterly forgettable. I realized I have only seen Match Point, Midnight In Paris, Blue Jasmine and Cafe Society and I only liked Midnight in Paris. Only there did I feel like there was some spark of inspiration, the rest is a wasteland. For the last 2, I literally could not even recount the plot or even the general summary they are so forgettable.

If anything, Rainy Day seems a bit interesting based on the premise but I don't think I will ever watch it (not least because it will never be released in the US).

Though I will add - I absolutely love peak Woody Allen. His work in the late 70's and throughout the 80s is beyond outstanding.

I don't know how long his career will last but I would like to see an evaluation and maybe then I will dig through some of his late period films. Currently I feel like I couldn't be bothered.

[Rayon Vert]

but I would like to see an evaluation and maybe then I will dig through some of his late period films

Maybe this thread?

[mfunk9786]

Maybe try not making declarative statements if you haven't seen most of the movies you're talking about?

[domino harvey]

Don’t be ridiculous, the Internet absolutely needed another voice chiming in to tell everyone that Woody Allen hasn’t done anything worth watching in years

[spectre]

A much more positive review from Screen Daily.

[mfunk9786]

Allen's lawsuit with Amazon has been settled out of court, still no word on what he's doing with the U.S. rights to this film, which he got back in May

[domino harvey]

LOL at that article framing this as anything but a win for Allen. He got his movie back plus prob a good chunk of change

[mfunk9786]

My guess is that quote is from Amazon's lawyer, although I could also see Allen's lawyer framing it the same way, since it would ultimately be ideal if Amazon just distributed the film - he's had rights to it since May and no distributor in the U.S. has touched it

[domino harvey]

We don’t know the details of the agreement, it’s possible no one wanted to touch it til the lawsuit was settled. It’s possible Allen didn’t want to shop it til same. If it’s still sitting undistributed this time next year, then sure, no one wants it. But someone will bite

[Finch]

I suppose in the worst case scenario of no distributor wanting to touch this (the fact that this hasn't been gathering raves in Europe only makes this decision easier for them), Allen could always make the film available to his American fans on his official website via streaming/downloads/Blu-Rays/DVDs.

[mfunk9786]

Unexpected benefit of being on vacation in Rome: I'm seeing this tomorrow.

Appears that all the showtimes are dubbed in Italian except one matinee per day (at least at the theater closest to us, didn't investigate all the theaters playing it). Could see the new Polanski too if I spoke either Italian or French...

Anyway, will be a little thrill to get to see this in a movie theater. I'm sure I'll have some thoughts.

[spectre]

I’m deeply envious. please do let us know what you think! I’m honestly starting to despair of this coming to Australia in any capacity.

[mfunk9786]

A minute long English language Amazon ad before this thing! The irony is rich, folks

[mfunk9786]

Turns out this was pretty much fantastic, a film that sets a little bit of an off-kilter screwball tone and then runs with it, with Allen peppering in a million jokes throughout the screenplay as always (and in the set decoration: check out the painting on Chalamet's brother's wall), with an added element of what feels like quite timely observations of the sorts of New York college aged kids that his own children must bring home from time to time. The highlights here are clearly Gomez and Fanning, despite Chalamet being perfectly solid and some memorable little performances from supporting actors (including an actress playing a $500 Manhattan prostitute that's an example of similarly laughable cinematic price deflation to Kubrick's absurdly underpriced $100 one in Eyes Wide Shut).

Gomez comes out of nowhere (or nowhere I'm familiar with, anyway) to be an incredibly good fit for delivering Allen's dialogue, and to just be an utterly captivating figure, much like Marion Cotillard in Midnight in Paris, making the most of her relatively minimal screen time. Elle Fanning, who is more akin to being Chalamet's co-lead as her story runs parallel to his, is so adept at playing someone who is a bit in over her head that one could easily construe Fanning herself as not being up to the task - but her timing is perfect, her command of the performance never falters, and in a certain era, it might even be worthy of an Oscar nomination.

And while I think everyone knows what they're in for with the cinematography... it absolutely does not disappoint in any area. It is purely stunning from beginning to end.

Anyway, this is one of the year's very best films, and it feels odd to literally leave it behind in another continent and never know when I'll have the opportunity to watch it again. I really hope it gets a theatrical release in the U.S., if only because it would be strange for so many lackluster or middling Allen films over the last few decades to be small but solid successes at the box office, and this delightful film to be the one to head direct to video (or worse).

[domino harvey]

Nice to hear, especially considering I know you would have had no problems being honest if you didn’t like it

[mfunk9786]

The name Gatsby Welles is still terribly distracting throughout. There, take your take

[mfunk9786]

I can also bizarrely report that this film is available on our American Airlines flight back to Philadelphia - I wonder if that extends to domestic ones!