Café Society
Director: Woody Allen
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell
Duration: 96 mins
Class: 12
KRS Releasing Ltd
Woody Allen’s latest offering is an amiable, if slight, bittersweet romance that takes us back to the 1930s and shifts between the backdrop of both the glamorous planet that was Hollywood and the high-society night life of New York.
Jesse Eisenberg stars as Bobby Dorfman, who, unsatisfied with his job in his father’s Bronx jewellery business, heads to LA where he finds a job with his Uncle Phil (Steve Carell), a famous agent to the stars.
After falling head over heels in love but getting his heart broken, Bobby heads back to New York, where he embarks on a second career running a nightclub for his gangster brother Ben (Carey Stoll), where he also gets a new opportunity for love.
Café Society follows a fairly uncomplicated plotline and what it lacks in depth or complexity is compensated by some colourful characters and solid performances.
Eisenberg, as Bobby, and Kristen Stewart as Vonnie, (Phil’s assistant) lead a strong ensemble – Carell’s suave, high-powered, but soft-hearted Phil, Parker Posey’s glamorous and fun-loving fashionista and Stoll’s charming, but ruthless, gangster paint a portrait of archetypes of the era.
Blake Lively adds some unfussy layers to the beautiful divorcee Veronica and the two protagonists – Eisenberg and Stewart – make the most of the chemistry they have had the opportunity to cultivate over their two previous films together to make for an interesting, attractive couple.
A nostalgia-filled snapshot of the café society of its title
Eisenberg embodies the typical Allen role – a bright, if neurotic, insecure man trying to cope with the obstacles life throws at him. It’s a role the actor has often portrayed – sometimes to an annoying degree.
Yet, he is extremely engaging here and, boosted by the romantic relationship that is at the heart of the story and the joys and pitfalls it offers him, he undergoes the journey of the wide-eyed young man negotiating his journey through life learning a few hard lessons on the way with sweetness and charm.
Equally charming and effective is Stewart’s down-to-earth, cynical but endearing Vonnie, who sees through the artifice of Hollywood’s sheen with refreshing clarity – although even she will eventually fall for its allure, causing the rift at the heart of the story.
Although Eisenberg is pretty much Allen’s surrogate, the director also has a presence of sorts, giving himself the role of narrator, his instantly recognisable voice guiding the audience through the movie.
The plotline may not be highly original, and has nothing much to say about anything, really. However, Allen’s penmanship remains as sharp and neurotic as ever. The bon mots flow thick and fast, while the action at times take a comically violent turn. It all looks rather gorgeous too, with some lovely backdrops created by production designer Santo Loquasto.
Worth noting is that Café Society is the first film Allen shot digitally, his cinematographer Vittorio Storaro creating sharp images and contrasts for the Hollywood and New York settings. The glamour of the former is a world populated by movie star celebrity and their large, ostentatious palatial homes in vibrant and sunny pastel colours.
The latter comes in darker, grittier shades, Bobby’s club with its liveried staff, big bands and clientele of rich and beautifully dressed socialites and politicians mixing with even better-dressed criminals, academics and theatre types. It is a nostalgia-filled snapshot of the café society of its title.