An enchanting tale from Woody

FAMILIAR FEEL: DISCOURSE ON HUMAN CONDITION

Younger generation carry forward the philosophical musing this time.

This is another romantic, multilayered Woody Allen narrative which finds its way to the director’s home town of New York, a city he knows intimately.

A Rainy Night in New York was completed in October 2017 for Amazon Studios but held back. According to Wikipedia, in February this year Allen filed a $68 million (R993 million) lawsuit contesting that Amazon had failed to meet contractual obligations to release the film as originally contracted, alleging the studio had dropped the film for only “vague reasons.”

One reason given why the studio terminated the four-picture contract was over a “baseless 25year old allegation” over a 1992 sexual assault against Allen. In May this year, it was reported that Amazon had given the US distribution rights back to Allen. The film’s production also coincided with the start of the #MeToo movement and caused a resurgence in public interest in the 1992 sexual assault allegation.

That said, A Rainy Night in New York is an enchanting story.

It is crammed with Woody Allen observations, sly remarks and discourses on the human condition. It’s very much territory he has explored many times before but, this time, he allows a younger generation of players to carry it forward.

The theme revolves around a key character, handsome Gatsby Welles, played with charm and conviction by Timothée Chalamet, a student at upstate Yardley College who is the son of wealthy New York City parents.

His pretty girlfriend, Ashleigh (Elle Fanning), is a naive student from Tucson, who is travelling to New York to interview wellknown filmmaker Roland Pollard (Liev Schreiber) for the college paper. Gatsby decides to go along to show her Manhattan. He and Ashleigh arrive at an upscale hotel where she is to interview Pollard.

When she goes alone to meet him, Pollard appears smitten with her good looks and invites her to go to a local private screening soon after the interview starts. Then it begins to rain.

This meeting is the jump-off point for a 24-hour adventure into the mystique of a rainy New York and the pitfalls and pleasures the

Big Apple has to offer.

These two characters are then separated and undertake their own enlightening journeys, which empower them in different ways.

At the end, Gatsby and Ashleigh emerge as far more developed personalities, enriched by the various colourful entities they encounter along the way.

Pop star Selena Gomez plays Shannon, the attractive younger sister of one of Gatsby’s former girlfriends, who reconnects with Gatsby. He now finds her more than interesting.

Jude Law has a minor role as screenwriter Ted Davidoff, involved in Pollard’s movie, who discovers the charms of Ashleigh. Also in the mix is a famous Latino actor, Francisco Vega (Diego Luna), who also becomes enamoured with Ashleigh on Pollard’s movie set.

As in most Allen productions, the story has numerous threads which are artfully pulled together. Beautifully photographed against the many facets of New York City, this may not be Woody Allen’s most provocative production, but it is enjoyable.