Magician Stanley Crawford (Colin Firth) is seeking to debunk spiritual medium Sophie Baker (Emma Stone) in Woody Allen’s MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT
MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT (Woody Allen, 2014)
In theaters now
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For his follow-up to Blue Jasmine, his best film in years, Woody Allen has returned to his love of prestidigitation and the possibility of a spirit world in Magic in the Moonlight, topics he has tackled before, with varying degrees of success, in Scoop, Alice, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, the Broadway play The Floating Light Bulb, and the short story “Examining Psychic Phenonema,” in which he wrote, “There is no question that there is an unseen world. The problem is, how far is it from midtown, and how late is it open?” Unfortunately, there is nothing nearly as sharp in Magic in the Moonlight, an ultimately lackluster and disappointing foray into the mysterious realm of spirit mediums, despite a luminous performance by Emma Stone. Allen, who used to make films almost exclusively in New York City, now ventures to the French Riviera of the 1920s after journeys to Rome, Paris, London, and Barcelona in previous recent works. Stone stars as Sophie Baker, a beautiful young woman who claims to be able to read minds and contact the dead, which distresses Stanley Crawford (Colin Firth), who performs as the famous Asian magician Wei Ling Soo and is dedicated to unmasking frauds, believing that there is nothing beyond our earthbound realm. (The premise is loosely based on the psychic-busting career of magician Harry Houdini, who was desperate to find a real connection to the dead.) Stanley is invited by his longtime friend and colleague, magician Howard Burkan (Simon McBurney), to disprove the psychic abilities of Miss Baker, who has been impressing the wealthy Catledge family, including the widowed matriarch, Grace (Jacki Weaver), and her son, Brice (Hamish Linklater), the heir and scion absolutely smitten with Sophie. However, daughter Caroline (Erica Leerhsen) and her husband, George (Jeremy Shamos), don’t trust Sophie and her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) and want Stanley to debunk them before they get their hands on the family fortune. At first Stanley is sure that they are frauds only after money, but soon enough he starts changing his tune, wondering if everything he has believed in has been wrong.
Marcia Gay Harden, Hamish Linklater, Colin Firth, and Emma Stone fail to bring magic to MOONLIGHT
Magic in the Moonlight never feels fully formed, like a magic trick that doesn’t come together to completely take in the audience. While Stone, who is beautifully lit by Darius Khondji, is charming as the possible medium, Firth struggles to develop a tangible chemistry with her, and Brice’s ukulele-laden puppy-dog courtship of Sophie is just plain silly. The film looks great — Darius Khondji’s costumes are wonderful, as is Anne Seibel’s production design, and it’s always a pleasure to see Eileen Atkins, here portraying Stanley’s bohemian aunt — but the problem really begins and ends with Allen’s flat script, as funny jokes, one-liners, and any sense of mystery disappear quicker than the elephant in the opening scene and numerous twists border on the cringeworthy, a rarity for the Woodman, even in his lesser works, of which Magic in the Moonlight is certainly one.
Multimedia performance artist and indie darling Miranda July scored a major breakthrough with her 2005 cinematic debut, the utterly charming romantic comedy Me and You and Everyone We Know. While her follow-up, The Future, lacks many of the endearing qualities that made her first film such a success, it is still a quirky, beguiling drama that offers a breath of fresh air from the usual summer movie doldrums — er, blockbusters. July stars as Sophie, a children’s dance teacher living with Jason (Hamish Linklater), a work-at-home IT dude. The slackers spend their time sitting on the couch, both on their laptops, having offbeat conversations and pretending they can stop time. But when they are told that the sick cat they want to adopt won’t be well enough to leave the veterinary hospital for another month, they decide that this will be their last thirty days of freedom, thinking that the arrival of the feline will confer upon them the responsibilities of adulthood they have been so good at avoiding up to now. Given this last bastion of hope, they quit their jobs to pursue their dreams: Jason starts going door-to-door selling trees, while Sophie sets out to perform a dance a day and post them on YouTube. No, this oddball, somewhat freakish couple doesn’t exactly dream big. And, of course, their idea of freedom doesn’t turn out to be exactly what they had hoped. The Future veers off in way too many directions, some good, some bad, but it is held together by July’s bright eyes and lanky, comedic body even as she explores the horrors of mainstream suburban living. As with much of her performance art, she challenges the audience to stay with her as she defies standard narrative and turns to the surreal, including a talking moon. The film is nearly stolen by Joe Putterlik, an elderly man whom Jason meets through a Pennysaver ad for a three-dollar used hair dryer; Putterlik, who also is the voice of the moon, was actually discovered by July through a Pennysaver ad, and much of his dialogue is improvised and set in his own apartment as he talks about his real life. Sadly, he died immediately after shooting was concluded. The film is narrated by the ill cat, Paw Paw (voiced by July in a creepy monotone), who dreams of her own freedom, wanting desperately to get out of her cage and be taken in by people who will love her. And after all, isn’t that what we all want? As an added treat, the California-based July, who installed the fun installation “Eleven Heavy Things” in Union Square Park last year and has also written the terrific short-story collection No one belongs here more than you, will be at the IFC Center for the 6:10 and 8:20 screenings on July 29 & 30.