Autumn enjoyable, despite triteness
By Ashley Clark, entertainment editor

     Richard Gere and Winona Ryder team up in a half Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, etc), half Nabokov (Lolita) creation entitled Autumn in New York.
     The storyline follows a very familiar pattern of “boy meets girl…” and the characters do exactly what they are expected to. There are no surprises or plot twists, but somehow the film manages to be relaxingly enjoyable.
     Perhaps the initial intrigue of the story is the age difference and relationship between Will Keane (Gere) and Charlotte Fielding (Ryder).
     In the beginning of the film, Will is introduced to Charlotte by her grandmother as one of her late mother's old friends.
     Will also has a daughter around the same age as Charlotte, perhaps even a year or two older.
     He is 48 years old, and she is barely 22. Even so, the attraction is mutual.
     “At first, Will and Charlotte clearly are seen as an older man dating a younger woman,” director Joan Chen said in a recent interview, “but then it stops mattering. It is just love they are experiencing; it has nothing to do with gender or age. It tests what you are capable of whether you are 20 or 45.”
     As the shock of their intergenerational relationship fades, these characters show themselves to be human contradictions. While Charlotte is young in age with a playful, childlike persona, it is Will who possesses the juvenile characteristics.
     He lives his life as a cowardly womanizer out of his fear of needing love.
Believing that he is being realistic, he starts his relationships by abruptly telling his partners that their relationship will not last.
     It is only when he delivers this line to Charlotte and she responds in agreement instead of protest, that he allows himself to fall in love, comforting his fears rather than confronting them.
     The reason for Charlotte's agreement is that she knows that her time is limited with anyone because of a fatal illness.
Even so, she is fearless and completely dedicated to living in the moment. She is not      afraid to lose her heart to Will.
Their age difference is never a concern to her, and she constantly takes medical risks to have fun. In the end, it is she who teaches Will about love and enjoyment of life.
     “I liked that this film is about real relationships,” Ryder said. “For me, it was the first script I'd ever read that on one hand was a true emotional tearjerker, but at the same time was totally fresh and original.”
     Her portrayal of Charlotte is delightful and magically fictitious, yet powerfully truthful, making it easy to believe and endure this character.
     Ryder was very much intrigued with Charlotte.
“I really admired her courage, her love of life and her ability to live completely in the present,” Ryder said.
     “That's an incredibly difficult thing for any person to do, but there's a lot to learn from that. Playing Charlotte was a challenge that brought up a lot of my own feelings and fears,” she said.
     It was difficult to decide whether or not Gere's performance was true to his character or if the actor, himself, was intimidated by the role.
      Throughout the film, Gere appeared to be holding back. He was somewhat hesitant in his actions and always seemed to have his guard up even after Will comes to accept his love for Charlotte.
     Gere’s holding back sometimes made it uncomfortable to watch him as an actor, although these traits could also describe the character because, according to the performer, “Will believes there is always an inevitable endpoint to all relationships.”
     The conflicting acting style—Ryder’s seeming more emotional and Gere’s seeming more intellectual—made their chemistry slightly off-balanced, though it was not enough to destroy the film.
     The two appeared to be comfortable working together and have reportedly said that they feel that their chemistry was right on.
     “We had great chemistry,” Ryder said.
     “It was so great to meet someone who is so at ease with himself, so compassionate and so open,” she said.
     Gere, likewise, voiced that the main appeal of working on the film for him was the chance to work with Ryder.
     The film comes across as the solution to what would have made movies like Lolita and Sleepless in Seattle more realistic.
     This time, Lolita is at an age where the attraction between the two characters is not totally out of the question.
     There are also enough conflicts in the relationship so that it seems less like a fairy tale and more like an interesting glimpse into types of relationships that actually exist in today's society.
     Autumn in New York would probably appeal to fans of old romantic movies and contemporary love stories.
     It is rated PG-13 with a running time of 105 minutes.