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fromDaniel Kothenschulte
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Woody Allen’s unfortunate deal with Amazon resulted in a surprisingly beautiful film: “A Rainy Day in New York” – only seen in theaters.
The big, more expensive Woody Allen film doesn’t take place in the cinema. It is about a very rich company, the largest trading group in the world. His president has the special gift of charming even the strictest critics of his working conditions into shopping with him anyway. The dashing bald man named Jeff Bazos, now the richest citizen of the world, has recently become a film mogul.
Like the old Hollywood bosses, he makes some of the greatest film artists his own for a lot of money. And again, his talent to tease out double standards in people suits him: he was even able to lure the most famous pessimists in American film with a ten million advance payment. Woody Allen has never told a story more often than that of the alluring temptation – where it takes bitter revenge if you give in to it.
Woody Allen in the cinema: Amazon does not show “A Rainy Day in New York”
In the end, a film was made that the Amazon company would rather put on hold than show it in the USA. And shows Woody Allen all the more proudly in Europe, where you can’t see him on the computer, but only in the cinemas. What a happy fate for a film that was actually ordered to be “downloaded”. Nobody likes to enjoy this happy ending very much.
“A Rainy Day in New York” is part of the original four-film contract between Allen and Amazon. His disappearance was not justified on the basis of poor quality. Twenty-five years ago, after a thorough judicial investigation, Allen was exonerated of allegations of molesting his underage daughter. When this topic became public again in the context of the MeToo discussion, Amazon terminated its collaboration with Woody Allen. Three main actors, Timothée Chalamet, Selena Gomez and Rebecca Hall, announced that they would donate their fees to charities.
“A Rainy Day in New York” in the cinema: Woody Allen sued Amazon
Woody Allen, on the other hand, who considers his innocence to be proven and sees his reputation damaged, sued Amazon for damages of $ 68 million; an agreement was reached on November 9th. How much Amazon ultimately had to pay the director remained a secret.
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Some critics who saw “A Rainy Day in New York” – it has been running successfully in France for two months – now have difficulty separating the two films. The one you see in front of you. And the one that doesn’t exist in the cinema. Does everyone reveal himself, even if he is not a child molester, at least as a MeToo-worthy misogynist?
Elle Fanning, who incidentally did not donate her fee, plays an elite student who writes a film report for the university newspaper. More fan than cinephile, she comes to an interview with an aging star director of love films (Liev Schreiber). He receives her in Manhattan with pretended self-doubt, which she is only too happy to refute with her enthusiasm. No wonder that the attractive young woman, with all her naivety, makes even more friends: a screenwriter who is appropriately vanished by Jude Law willingly pour out his heart, while a film star embodied by Diego Luna tries out his sleazy art of seduction on her.
Woody Allen and Amazon with “A Rainy Day in New York”: First-class cast in the cinema
Is the fan journalist from a wealthy family portrayed archetypically by Elle Fanning a misogynistic cliché? Or is it not more the male entertainment celebrities who are shown here as roosters? What was Marilyn Monroe not criticized for most of her film roles during her lifetime.
But just as her blondes did not remain mere “dummies” with Billy Wilder, Fanning’s role merely serves a prejudice. She is wonderful, and anyone who does not trust her to keep the distance she gives this role is a misogynist himself. You don’t have to explain working with set pieces in comedy to an 84-year-old Woody Allen any more than to his first-class cast down to the smallest supporting roles.
Timothée Chalamet, the wonderful discovery from “Call Me By Your Name”, plays Fanning’s male counterpart with the same blessed naivety. The hobby pianist accompanied his girlfriend to Manhattan to initiate her into his own dream world, that of the noble piano bars, where the good cocktail jazz is played. Gentle rain, which in Vittorio Storraros always had a bit too pretty camera pictures, would be the perfect backdrop – if he didn’t lose his companion to the film mix so quickly.
Amazon production “A Rainy Day in New York”: One of Woody Allen’s best films in theaters
Once again Woody Allen tells of apparently happy couples who first have to learn to separate better. Ideally, a few hours are enough for this – and the right chance encounters.
The young rich jazz fan, who plays like Erroll Garner and goes by the name Gatsby, is a melancholy lucky guy: First he learns to kiss in a spontaneous extra role on a film set from a stunningly quick-witted young actress (Selena Gomez). And then he wins a huge sum on a poker game. The fact that he then spends the winnings on an escort girl that he takes with him to his parents’ party with platonic intent still does not turn it into a misogynist film. Just a lovingly absurd game with all the coincidences that are otherwise strictly forbidden for plausible film plots. Only in Woody Allen’s comedies of the past two decades are they downright mandatory.
No, “A Rainy Day in New York” is one of the best Allen films of this late phase. The three stars, who donated their fees (which certainly weren’t too high) to organizations close to MeToo, will one day know what they get from this film. And when we do spot the second, invisible film behind it, that of the billionaire who buys an artist just to bury his work for a lot of money in the end, it becomes almost a little more beautiful.
By Daniel Kothenschulte
A Rainy Day in New York.USA 2016 (shooting time), 2019 (published). Directed by Woody Allen. 95 min.
Director Woody Allen faces allegations of abuse. Actor Christoph Waltz still takes on a role in the new film.
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