Often when stepping into a Woody Allen movie, you have certain preconceived notions about what to expect.
The brilliance of this deceptively harmless daydream is the juxtaposition with which it is contrasted.
But this time there will be no bemused and awkwardly appealing narcissist to share the screen with her.
On the big screen, the good times never ended.
In fact, there was no other alternative to these happy days for screen characters to even ponder.
He does this because he knows that Cecilia will never leave himnot in this economy.
And to add the final insult, Allen shuns shooting in his preferred New York cityscape for this film.
No, Cecilia lives in New Jerseya disheartening proposition even if it werent during the Depression.
Its an absurd plot for a frivolous film, but its played with endearing wide-eyed sincerity by Jeff Daniels.
Yet purposefully, Allen is not actually playing a character in this picture.
For them, the only primary concern is whether a marauding movie character is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
If more than one Tom Baxter walks off the screen, theyll have Gil Shepherds career!
He is flabbergasted that hell actually get to see the stuff the censors would never allow!
He is 1930s America, as defined by Hollywood, made flesh.
But as Gil counters, Im real.
Cecilia made the right choice (if for the wrong reasons) and elects to run away with Gil.
She wisely chose reality, in spite of its inevitable and immediate disappointment.
When I first saw this film as a child, I was heartbroken at the not-happy ending.
How could Cecilianotchoose Tom, and how could she be left with nothing?
Only later did I realize how agonizingly perfect it is.
It is a harrowing message that feels even more pertinent in 2015 than it did 30 years ago.
This film shows both the danger of filmmakings world-building, as well as its beautiful catharsis.
But she also bears witness to the venues newest entertainment, a Fred and Ginger movie calledTop Hat.
Wemustlive in reality; film and all other art can only be an excursion.
