Cafe Society

On Tuesday, August 30, 2016, I went to see the movie Café Society, featuring Steve Carell, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart and Blake Lively.

The story is about Bobby, played by Jesse Eisenberg, who works with his father in a jewel business, and who lives in the Bronx in NYC, who gets sick of NYC and the jewelry business.  So, he escapes to LA where his uncle, Phil Stern, played by Steve Carell, an agent in a top notch agency, tries to get him into the scene.

In LA, Bobby meets the lovely Vonnie, played by Kristen Stewart, who is Phil's secretary.  Bobby is instantly smitten with her.  However, she has a boyfriend.  But, that didn't stop Bobby's pursuits of Vonnie.

There's a twist to this movie that comes later and it made the movie very interesting.  I won't go into it here, because I don't want to give it away.  But, go and watch it.  This was another one of Woody Allen's hits where he doesn't fall flat on his face.

Florence Foster Jenkins

On Tuesday, August 23, 2016, I went to see the movie Florence Foster Jenkins.  This movie is based upon the real life story of the same person, who is played by Meryl Streep.  She shares the screen with Hugh Grant, who plays St. Clair Bayfield and Simon Helberg, who plays Cosmé McMoon, her pianist/accompanist.

Florence is a patron of the arts and she founded the Verdi club, for people who appreciate music.  Her husband, with whom she has a very peculiar relationship, is St. Clair Bayfield, played by Hugh Grant.  They dibble in the arts together.  However, St. Clair is not a very good actor and Florence is not a very good singer.

Many of the people who attend Florence's concerts are there to laugh at her, not really to appreciate her singing.  And in fact, that's what the audience in the movie theatre does at the beginning.  They laugh at her singing...  Though, for me, at the moment where I find out something very interesting about her, (not going to give it away here), that is the moment where my vision of her completely changes and I actually notice that even though she is not very good at singing, music is her passion and you can hear her heart going into it.

A great movie about perseverance and passion for the arts.