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Café Society

A golden oldie from Woody

In Woody Allen’s ode to the vibrant subculture that defined the spirit of 1930s Manhattan and Hollywood, a perfectly cast Jesse Eisenberg arrives in Hollywood from New York hoping his wheeler-dealer uncle (Steve Carell) can get him a job. He immediately falls in love with uncle’s secretary (a slightly out-of- place Kristin Stewart) and finds himself in the middle of an amusing, slightly melancholy romantic triangle. This charmingly (and intentionally) unsubstantial, lived-in comedy of manners is a pretty decent second-tier Allen effort, but Woody’s seconds are usually better than what else is out there. And the breathtakingly luminous cinematography by Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now, Last Tango in Paris) alone is worth the ticket price. A plus: Woody narrates. (96 min)