A Rainy Day In New York (2019)

A young college student (Timothee Chalamet) in upstate New York accompanies his girlfriend (Elle Fanning) to Manhattan (where he grew up) when she's assigned to interview a famous film director (Liev Schreiber) for the school newspaper. Written and directed by Woody Allen, the film never saw a U.S. release but was released theatrically in Europe, Asia and South America. I was a big fan of Allen's previous film WONDER WHEEL which was pretty much ignored which is a pity as it was very good. Alas, Allen seems to have lost touch with this one. It's yet another ode to his beloved New York but it's no ANNIE HALL or HANNAH AND HER SISTERS. His two protagonists are 21 year old college students but they don't act or speak like real college kids, they talk and act like 40ish characters in a Woody Allen movie. I mean how many college students stay at the Pierre Hotel and then go to the Carlyle to listen to Irving Berlin ballads? The film has the usual Allen attitude regarding non New Yorkers: Selena Gomez says to Chalamet, "You're dating someone from Arizona? What do you talk about ... cactus?". If you're familiar with Allen's filmography then you've seen this all before and better. Bathed in gold and amber hues, the film looks gorgeous and why wouldn't it when Vittorio Storaro did the cinematography. Of course, there's the requisite jazz records underscore. For the Allen completists only. With Jude Law, Diego Luna, Kelly Rohrbach, Rebecca Hall and Cherry Jones as Chalamet's mother who has one terrific scene.