First look at Woody Allen's 1920s romance Magic in the Moonlight
|
Version 0 of 1. The first trailer for Woody Allen's new film Magic in the Moonlight has appeared, and it seems to be a far more light-hearted film than his previous one, Blue Jasmine. Set in the 1920s, it stars Colin Firth as a magician who is sent to France to debunk the practices of Emma Stone's beguiling spiritualist – but the accuracy of her soothsaying and her impressive trickery have his cynicism challenged. Cue the gorgeous Mediterranean vistas that characterise Allen's Euro-tourist period, along with the pair getting fetchingly soaked in rain and heading towards an inevitable romance. Reading on mobile? Click here for the Magic in the Moonlight trailer Compared with the gloomy ruminations on ageing and aspiration that characterised the well-received Blue Jasmine, which won Cate Blanchett an Oscar, this is Allen going back to the knockabout farce and blithe May-December couplings that populate his lighter films. The supporting cast includes Marcia Gay Harden, Jacki Weaver, and Simon McBurney. Allen might understandably be trying to blot out reality with the magic of romance, amid a dark period in his personal life. The film emerges with his reputation at its most damaged, following accusations from his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow that he sexually abused her as a child. Some old friends, like Wallace Shawn and Diane Keaton, have publicly defended him, but it remains to be seen whether the saga has left too bitter a taste in the general public's mouth for this romance to slip down nicely. Allen can currently be seen in Fading Gigolo, playing a genteel pimp to John Turturro's middle-aged sex worker and incurable romantic. Emma Stone meanwhile will also star in Woody Allen's next film, alongside Joaquin Phoenix. |