With time The MacMahonian will come around to reviewing films from most if not all household name filmmakers. This time it's Woody Allen's turn.
Café Society is the 50th feature film directed by Woody Allen, Brooklyn Jewish standup comedian turned film maker who for (to The MacMahonian) obscure reasons gained great recognition and reputation in the late 70s and early 80s by morphing from “popular” to “intellectual” author, initially with the irritating Annie Hall (1977, admittedly uniquely capturing/conjuring mid 70s NYC air du temps) and afterwards mostly by attempting lame and at their worst (Interiors, 1978) atrocious Bergman/Fellini pastiches, whilst still applying his brand of one liners for comic relief. To be fair, Allen vindicated his own reported aphorism to the effect that 90% of success is just showing up by keeping his nose to the grinding stone and churning out about a film a year for half a century, eventually mastering a theatrical, sedated directing style that is at its best when at its most personal and less pretentious. His zenith came in the mid 80s (Broadway Danny Rose, 1984, The Purple Rose of Cairo, 1985, Radio Days, 1987) and subsequent output has been uneven but occasionally rewarding (Small Time Crooks, 2000, to name but one).
Café Society tells a story Allen told countless times since he first came up with it some 40 years ago: boy (occasionally girl) meets girl (occasionally boy, btw for a NYC liberal Allen is remarkably, if probably unconsciously, singlemindedly heterosexual in his dramaturgy), boy finds another girl who on first impression is nicer, cooler, whatever, boy then leaves first girl for second but in the fullness of time it turns out despite the best of will on the part of all involved girl two was not the right one so boy goes back to girl one only to find she has in the meantime found someone else so boy is left staring bemused an whimsical as closing credits roll.
This time the setting is 40s Hollywood, camera work a little more balletic than usual, although to no discernible added value, period detail state of the art, cinematography redundantly pretty and cast trendy (Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart and not least an ageing or aged Steve Carrel, delighting us with unexpected range as adulterous movie mogul with a Dostoievskian – recurrent Allan wannabe inspiration - conscience).
It is ironic and perhaps revealing that such an icon of NYC liberal culture as Woody Allen has evolved into such a stylistically crystallized, self satisfied and conservative artist. The MacMahonian verdict on Café Society is it is a very well made and enjoyable film, but perhaps more so by those who never saw a Woody Allen film.