Meaning Movie A Rainy Day in New York (2019). At 83, Woody Allen made a delightful, youthfully clean and romantic film full of nostalgia. As before, the great director sings of his beloved New York, outside of which the whole world is not the same. New York is bohemian and secular, already overgrown with history, but full of youthful energy. And it’s also a film about what Allen loves more than anything in the world, along with New York – about cinema.
In the center of the plot is a young heir to a wealthy family, an Ivy League college student, whose name, imagine, is Gatsby. Thin, a lot of reading and talented, but completely indifferent to the model of the future that his ambitious mother wrote out for him, Gatsby is looking for himself. He does it intuitively and easily, without tragic internal discord and neuroses.
For example, he has nothing against Ashley, the daughter of bankers from Arizona, whom her parents would be happy to have as his girlfriend. Moreover, he is in love with Ashley and studies with her in the same college. Gatsby wins money easily at poker, and apparently not for the first time.
Here it turns out that the beloved must interview the famous director for the student newspaper, and goes for this New York, which she has never been to. For Gatsby, this is a great opportunity to show his beloved city to his beloved girl. He plans a gourmet weekend with visits to all places of worship.
Another important detail is that Gatsby’s mother, who lives in New York, has a party that day. But the son and his mother have a very difficult relationship, and the young man lied that he was busy and would not be able to come. Now he would not run into relatives and mother’s acquaintances, so that he would not have to “check in”.
The cycle of events will separate Gatsby and Ashley until the very end of the weekend. During this time, they will not only understand and recognize the city, but will find and recognize themselves.
The meaning of the film A Rainy Day in New York
This film is full of allusions and references. Firstly, the very name of Gatsby brings to mind the lightness and secularity of Fitzgerald’s heroes – this is also in Allen’s heroes. Long walks in the rain are reminiscent of scenes from the cult novel The Catcher in the Rye, whose hero is also looking for himself. Critics and fans of Woody’s films will be happy to recognize director’s alter egos in some of the characters. Firstly, in Gatsby himself: this, of course, is an improved and greatly embellished version. In the scene of meeting a classmate shooting his first experimental film on the street, we see Allen again, only young. But in glasses and in a directorial role!
The director could not resist the desire to gossip. When, together with the young and beautiful Ashley, sincere and fresh, we enter the world of big, real cinema – and she will get lost in it for a day – we will recognize many real characters. Liev Schreiber is so similar to Lars von Trier – the author of tediously intellectual and complex films. According to the script, he is going through another creative crisis, and a young fan will console him: the director is clearly infatuated with a blonde from Arizona.
Jude Law plays a screenwriter struggling with his wife; he also needs a comforter and again it’s Ashley. Thanks to these two characters, the girl will get on the set, where she will meet the sultry Latin movie star Francisco Vega in the mask of Zorro. We immediately recognize Antonio Banderas in this image. Vega convinces Ashley that he has already broken up with his wife. He liked the blonde and he takes her to him. Who can resist the sex symbol star? Ashley couldn’t.
And what is the abandoned Gatsby doing all this time? He patiently waits for Ashley, but accidentally meets a girl whom he knew as a girl: Shannon is the younger sister of his former passion. She is a rather prickly character and the beginning of the meeting does not take place in a warm and friendly atmosphere. Only later we will guess that Shannon has long and secretly been in love with her older sister’s boyfriend. Irony and sarcasm are just a front.
In the first half of the film, you can feel the growing irritation against the big boys, the golden youth. But by the end, your feelings will change. Firstly, you will learn the “terrible secret” of the mother of a teenager – he will still get to the reception and arrange a small, intelligent and almost imperceptible scandal there. And secondly, all people will open up to us from an unexpected side.
Meaning of the movie’s ending
After all the misadventures, Gatsby still meets Ashley – wet, in a man’s raincoat over her naked body. In the morning they ride in a carriage back to college. But suddenly the hero realizes that this weekend in the pouring rain has changed him forever. Ashley also opened a new world, which she will not forget – she will certainly return. Jumping out of the carriage, Gatsby goes to the very place that they accidentally talked about with Shannon. This is the clock at the New York Zoo, with dancing and playing animals that walk in a circle.
No one agreed on anything, but very soon Shannon herself, the hero’s new love, comes here. It was a test for romanticism, for the ability to live with one’s heart and prefer the real oneself to fictitious plans and conventions. New York changed Gatsby and resolved all his inner doubts – at least at this stage of life. He won’t go back to a boring college that doesn’t even have to study for exams, which he still does well. He has Shannon, intuition and luck, talent as a pianist and … a beloved city.
