Tag Archives: Woody Allen

Nostalgia. Once upon a time it referred to a certain kind of mental illness, describing someone unable to live in his or her time.  Now the word has been relegated to the cute, adorable, kitschy part of our lexicon. We think of nostalgia as a kind of benign obsession–only that’s not quite the word either, for nostalgia tends to describe something far more tame. Gil Pender, played brilliantly by Owen Wilson, suffers from a strange nostalgic notion that the 1920’s in Paris were far better than the present day. Through Gil’s adventures in the half-darkened streets of the City of Lights, Woody Allen weaves a fantastical tale completely unlike anything he has ever done. Midnight in Paris is simultaneously a fascinating portrait of a city, and a study of that particular kind of nostalgia that drives us to live in a past we never had and to forget a present that is passing us by. Continue reading →