Woody Allen’s Cafe Society: The Antidote to Now
Woody Allen’s Café Society is about as far away from current global realities as possible and that’s exactly why it’s grand. To be carried into his dream world of early Golden Hollywood Daze mixed with Brooklyn when the Dodgers were still there, is a cocktail that goes down as smoothly as the extra dry martinis served up at Les Tropiques, the swank El Morocco nightclub in the film.
Café Society is manna for the detail starved. Santo Loquasto, the Production Designer, is at his best with stunning, if not always authentic sets. The first Hollywood Hills mansion looks a little too modern for the era and Jesse Eisenberg’s (Bobby Dorfman) motel room, a little too charming for the price. But it is all gorgeous. The lighting palette is varied and delightful. Star cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who shot films like Last Tango in Paris and Apocalypse Now, captures the it beautifully.
This is a film where the details really soar. Jeannie Berlin as Bobby’s mother has a vocal pitch that is kvetchy perfect and occasionally brings to mind the young woman who insisted on eating egg salad with her mouth open in The Heartbreak Kid. Ms. Berlin is now older and fully in control of her comedic skills. Read more at The Huffington Post.
