Vicky Cristina Barcelona Review

"Vicky Cristina Barcelona" reviews

Movie

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2009-05-19 20:55:06

Rating

3.5/5

Provider

CinemaSource

Review

Perhaps it was something in the Spanish water, but Woody Allen has produced his funniest movie in years in the seductively engaging Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Story

Writer/director Woody Allen travels to Spain for the first time, movie-wise, for a sophisticated bedroom romp about two American girls, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson), who hit Barcelona for a summer vacation and end up in an unusual encounter with a local painter (Javier Bardem). He seduces them into joining him on a white-knuckle plane trip to his place. There, he tries to bed both separately and together--until his unstable ex-wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) shows up and throws his game plan off. Cristina seems like the more willing of the two, eager to give anything a try, while Vicky, who is engaged to be married, completely resists--that is, until she doesn't. The unexpected choices made by this group of disparate people suddenly brought together is what keeps Allen's story edgy and surprising.

Acting

Allen leaves the acting to others this time and gets sterling results with a splendid cast perfectly suited to the sophisticated and very funny rhythms of Woody's hilarious script. Johansson--clearly Allen's latest muse after Match Point and Scoop--is slyly amusing as a true free spirit, willing to get in the European swing of things. Hall, daughter of director Peter Hall and quite British in real life, affects a perfect American accent to expertly play a young woman whose inner yearnings keep trying to trump her ordered life. The actress is wonderful in a complex portrait of romantic confusion. Patricia Clarkson, so good in Elegy, also is reliably fine here as a woman caught in an unsatisfying marriage. Reigning Supporting Actor winner, Bardem shows natural comedic abilities as a Spanish Lothario who turns on his considerable charm to conquer two women at once. What he doesn't see coming is the wrath of his ex-wife Maria Elena and the hold this near psychotically emotional woman still has on him. Cruz is just great in the role, choosing to play her like any number of straight dramatic parts we've seen her do and letting the comedy emerge like fine wine. Her lapse into Spanish whenever she is upset (which is pretty much all the time) is vintage Woody. Cruz and Bardem are screen gold together.

Direction

Woody Allen seems to have had his fading career reinvigorated by venturing out of the safe confines of his beloved New York City first to London with Match Point, his brilliant 2004 crime drama and now to Barcelona with Vicky Cristina Barcelona, his funniest film in years. All the themes and style of past efforts are here but in terms of pure laughter, this is his best since the heyday of Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters and Manhattan. One quirky choice he probably could have dropped is the incessant voice of a narrator carrying the story along like a fairy tale. The dialogue and acting are of such quality, we could have done without the constant explanations of what is going on. As usual, Allen works simply and quickly getting the most out of his rich and wry screenplay, a witty dissertation of the left turns our love lives can so easily take.

Bottom Line

Hollywood.com rated this film 3 1/2 stars.

Movie

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2009-02-04 13:00:13

Provider

MRIB

Review

It's been a topsy-turvy time for Woody Allen this century.: Mixed receptions to his films, at home and abroad (even the unreleased one!); skewed, mismanaged plots; dubious acting; a reciprocated, obsessive interest in a new muse. The list goes on. He might have hit pay dirt though this time.

The clue's in the title: Two young Americans head to Spain for the summer. One a passionate wanderlust, the other planning an autumn wedding... and the rest of her life! Things get shaken up by Javier Bardem's artist, Juan. He offers them a flight of fancy (along with a share of his bed!). Not unerringly they accept the flight - initially deferring the bed - and become embroiled in two very different relationships with him.

Further complications arise through the introduction of his temperamental ex-wife (Penelope Cruz), who once tried to stab Juan and reappears following a suicide attempt.

Any more info about the plot would be unfair to your enjoyment of a complete return to form for Woody Allen in the writing and directing stakes. This fine balance of a fresh, multilayered, subtle story has excellent performances throughout - though Cruz deserves special mention for pushing the envelope of credibility, but not tearing it. It's up there with the best of the 'Allen Canon'.

Allen toys with the ways and mores of the American and Spanish characters in love and lust. The well-to-do Americans' nuances and ticks belie the truth behind the façade of calm and control they try to exhibit as their secrets are shared or exposed. Equally, the relaxed bohemian world of the artistic Spaniards is peeled away to reveal confusion, strain and hot tempers in their relationships. Along with all the goings-on his humour seeps into each scene keeping the mood heady with lyrical wit.

It's a beautiful movie filled with iconic Gaudi architecture, but also the backwaters and byways of Barcelona's streets and the Catalan countryside. Allen's European odyssey has take a mammoth leap forward in a light and sunny direction. A perfect spirit lifter.

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