Is there another film maker who has excelled at capturing the complications of human relationships better than Woody Allen? He has written and directed almost forty films in the past forty years and everyone of them has something honest and funny to say about people, relationships and the nature of love.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona is his 4th film set in Europe. His first was Match Point, set in London, which was excellent and the other two are Scoop and Cassandra's Dream, which are on my must see list. As the title suggest Vicky Cristina Barcelona is set in Barcelona, Spain. Working in Europe has not only breathed new life into Allen's work, but it has also given great new cities to explore with his cameras. The movie is a travelogue of beautiful places in Barcelona, Gaudi and Oviedo.
The movie stars Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson as two twenty-something American women who travel to Barcelona for summer vacation. Hall plays Vicky, a woman who knows exactly what she wants from life and has it all planned out. Johasson is spontaneous, adventurous and not sure of what she wants, but she'll know it when she finds it. What both women find is abstract artist Juan Antonio Gonzalo played by Javier Bardem. He sees them at an art gallery and then later approaches them with a straight forward proposition, fly with me to Oviedo, see the sights, have dinner and then make love to me. Vicky is insulted, but Cristina is intrigued and accepts. Vicky goes along to protect Cristina from herself. The relationships get complicated here. Even more so when Juan's ex-wife (Penelope Cruz), who tried to kill him, arrives and so does Doug (Chris Messina) Vicky's fiancee.
Rebecca Hall does a wonderful job of channeling Woody Allen, without the snappy one-liners and neurosis. Johansson is a delight as a woman open to new experiences, but unsure of what she wants. This was the third film she made with Allen. Penelope Cruz received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as the fiery, passionate Maria Elena. Javier Bardem manages to hold his own acting with these three women.
the film is not laugh out loud funny like some of Allen's other comedies. It's missing the quick wit and snappy, sarcastic one-liners that he would give the characters he played. It also has a certain level of melancholy about it, since everyone seems to be involved in relationships that don't satisfy them in some way. Like most of Allen's films about relationships there is no tidy ending where everyone lives happily ever after.
At The Movie House rating ***
1 comment:
Your fans are wating for some more interesting movies. It gets kind of hard to watch Woody Allen make the exact same movie for the 30th time in a row. We get it, Masnahatten, Annie Hall, Crimes and Misdemeanors, supposed cute and interesting dialogue...blah blah blah...We challenge Mr. Movie to go see The American and then give us his review. Perhaps you can also discuss the greatest rip-offs in Oscar history...for instance...Last night I watched Blind Side...its touching moment was at the end when you saw the real Big Mike get drafted in the NFL...otherwise, this movie was total pablum and boring...the fact she got an academy award for that movie is absolutely pathetic...by the way, there is something about her that is very annoying, I can see why Mr. Motorcycle likes his tatoo girls. 2 stars to Blind Side
Wake me up after the next Woody Allen review.
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