Film Of The Week:

Don’t you hate it when people say, ‘There are two types of people in this world…’? Sorry then. There are two types of people in this world – those who each year eagerly await Woody Allen’s new film and those who… well, we don’t care about the other kind, do we? Okay, so maybe I’m only preaching to the converted from here on in.

Magic in the Moonlight is the latest offering from the extraordinarily prolific Mr. Allen, and while it may not make it into his best 20 or so from the 50-plus that he’s made, it’s certainly a delightful way to spend an hour and a half of your time. 

The reasons? Colin Firth and Emma Stone, to name two. Both oozing charisma and charm, they effortlessly inhabit their roles in the romantic setting of the Cote d’Azur, France, 1928. Firth plays Englishman, Stanley, whose magician’s act sees him donning a Chinese outfit and persona and calling himself Wei Ling Soo. When Stanley’s fellow magician, Howard (Simon McBurney), asks him to help him expose a convincing but surely fraudulent psychic medium, Stanley is up for the challenge.

They head to the mansion of a wealthy family headed by our own Jacki Weaver as Grace, where young American psychic, Sophie (Stone), is staying. There, she has regular afterlife connections with Grace’s departed husband and it’s clear that Grace’s son (Hamish Linklater) is in love with her. 

So, are the family being taken in by a con artist? Stanley is determined to prove it but as he witnesses Sophie’s amazing powers of insight, he starts to allow himself to believe that maybe real magic can exist – something which challenges his rational view of the world. 

Woody Allen has often explored magic and whether there is more to life than we can experience with our five senses. With Magic in the Moonlight, he stays true to form with his favourite themes and glamorous settings, so you’re either going to love it or be unimpressed depending on whether you’re one of those types of people… or one of the other types.

by Vicki Englund