‘Stop with the “Uncle“, we don’t want to over-emphasise the nepotism.’

It’s Hollywood in the 1930’s – the Golden Age of a certain type Hollywood – and high-powered agent to the stars, Phil Stern (Steve Carell) is tasked with finding his slightly wet-behind-the-ears nephew, Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) something useful to do in his employ. In walks beautiful secretary Vonnie (Kristen Stewart) and a few palpitating heartbeats later, it looks like Bobby may just have found his raison d’être for making the move from New York City across the U.S.A to LA. But, to borrow the phrasing of Ralph Fiennes’ character, Laurence Laurentz, in HAIL, CAESAR! – another 1930’s Hollywood-set film – would that it were so simple!

Café Society is Woody Allen’s forty-sixth feature film (a higher number if you include his TV features), a wholly impressive accolade for a prolific director whose career straddles two centuries, and shows no sign of slowing down as he approaches his eighty-first birthday. By now, we know that in Allen’s films, the emergence of love between two characters does not necessarily mean they are destined for each other, take for instance the neurotic ups and downs of 1977’s ANNIE HALL; the love pentagon (perhaps even hexagon) within 1986’s HANNAH AND HER SISTERS; and the double-crossing mania of 2015’s IRRATIONAL MAN. So it is in Café Society, but to reveal exactly why, would be to spoil the refreshing twist over a third of the way into the film.

Vonnie falls for Bobby, partly because, as she says, “you have this deer in the headlights quality”. If Bobby is the deer, then Kristen Stewart as Vonnie, is the driver of a vehicle with very large headlights, for she absolutely shines in the film. Stewart is every bit as glamourous, magnetic and timeless as the classic movie palaces they visit on dates to watch films of yesteryear (for a contemporary audience) like THE WOMAN IN RED, starring Barbara Stanwyck, and SWING TIME, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Whilst her most famous roles to date are in the TWILIGHT feature film adaptations, it’s heartening to see her working with a director like Allen, whom it seems can cast his net out wide and invite any actor this side of the solar system to act in his next feature film.

The film’s cinematography is standout under the guidance of director of photography, Vittorio Storaro, the cinematographer on films such as LAST TANGO IN PARIS, APOCALYPSE NOW, and THE LAST EMPORER. A candlelit dinner between Bobby and Vonnie, in which a powercut (and other events) have interrupted their meal, is lit in a manner which perfectly frames the two lovers. Whilst the colour palette of the opening scenes to the film – silver & blue for a poolside party, and harvest-time orange and brown for Phil’s office and outfit – is perfectly picked out in the tempered and thoughtful camerawork of a Storaro. For those fans of the STAR WARS franchise, with its many and varied screen swipes between scenes, Café Society gives that Sci-Fi epic a run for its money with an unusual amount of these editing flourishes for an Allen film. It’s a classic Hollywood setting, but with a definite feel of contemporary Allen.

It’s a classic Hollywood setting, but with a definite feel of contemporary Allen.

Without revealing too much of the plot, the Café Society of scandals and gossip over cocktails and coffee that Bobby and Vonnie profess to despise at the start of the film soon starts to involve these lovers, but in true Allen style, it’s not necessarily a tidy ending to the narrative that is the intended outcome. At New Year’s Eve parties, both Bobby and Vonnie have looks to their faces (aided by a gorgeous close-up transition shot of their eyes) that leads a fellow party-goer to remark, “Whatever are you thinking? Your eyes look so…dreamy.” Oh to get inside Allen’s mind; to get inside his dreams. Anyone with this level of astonishing, witty, insightful cinematic output must have the most fantastic synapses linked to creativity in their brain. As we move halfway through the second decade of the twenty-first century, cinema-goers have been treated to some of the best Woody Allen in a long time: 2011’s MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, 2012’s BLUE JASMINE, 2015’s IRRATIONAL MAN, and now, Out of Competition at the 69th Cannes Film Festival, CAFÉ SOCIETY. Long may he continue.

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