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Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Director: Woody Allen
Movie review
From Time Out New York
Watching Woody Allen’s annual offering is a kind of ritual, like a trip to the dentist—and over the past decade, the pain level has been alarmingly high. From the quaintness of the DreamWorks period (Anything Else, in which Jason Biggs was in therapy with a “strict Freudian”) to Allen’s supposed rejuvenation in London (the fusty Match Point, with a view of class that began moldering sometime around the publication of Bleak House), the movies have offered little evidence that the once-great director lives in the Information Age, much less reads his own reviews.
So to say Vicky Cristina Barcelona is Allen’s best film in 12 years is faint praise. (That just suggests it doesn’t make you want to crawl under your seat in shame.) But there it is: the pacing, the timing, the jokes. Unlike any of the British films, this story of two Americans in Barcelona—soon-to-be-married Vicky (Hall) and free-spirited Cristina (Johansson)—makes tourism part of its subject, and the Europhilia becomes a source of humor. The two women enjoy flings with an impossibly smooth Spanish artist (Bardem, whose comic poise in seducing them should be studied and replicated), his own situation complicated by feelings for his nutty ex (Cruz, who has a personal triumph here). As usual, Allen belabors an obvious theme—passion versus satisfaction—but for a change, even the peripheral material, like the scenes involving Bardem’s spiteful poet father, has real bite. Minor Allen, the movie is nevertheless cause for hope for those who insist on returning every year.
Author: Ben Kenigsberg
Time Out New York Issue 672: August 14 - 20, 2008
User reviews of this film
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- franklin c. said...
- Posted on Mar 23 2009 15:50 At last an intelligent review. I'm refering to the one by mystic said. Allen has often paid "hommages" to other directors, specially Bergman (Interiors), Fellini (Stardust Memories) and German Expressionism. Vicky Cristina barcelona is loosely based on Truffaut's Jules et Jim, with the genders reversed: Vicky is Jules (Oskar Werner), Cristina is Jim (Henri Serre) and Javier Bardem is Catherine (Jeanne Moreau), with Penélope Cruz as an added mixture of both Catherine and Jim. The voice in off arration, which has puzzled so many people, is a direct reference to Truffaut's masterpiece. VCB is a redirection of Allen career, with just a few of the usual lines we have come to expect from a WA's film.
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- Vasilis said...
- Posted on Feb 26 2009 06:23 i am surprised this film has good such good reviews!!! i was totally bored. acting was awful...you take 3 untalented actors you put them in a film and then p. cruz. no wonder she won the oscar...the movie was also predictable, conventional and uninteresting. there was nothing intelligent about it really and rather stereotypical. It seemed to me too american. trying to be euro intellectual film but failing miserably. I must say thought the picture, landscape was beautiful...and there was great camera skills...So def not worth a 10 at the cinema but if a friend buys it on dvd...and have nothing else to do go and watch it together....
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- john said...
- Posted on Feb 23 2009 07:18 This film was desperate. Every cultural stereotype was there. Allen clearly has no knowledge or understanding of Spain at all. The cardboard-cut-out characters made you wince. The acting was generally appalling (with the possible exception of Cruz). I'm amazed that someone of the stature of Bardem would associate himself with such rubbish. I also found a couple of the love scenes a bit creepy - like the voyeuristic visions of an elderly male sexual tourist. all in all, i was very cross to have wasted my money and feel that reviews in the media should have been more damning.
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- mystic said...
- Posted on Aug 18 2008 18:34 A halcyon Summer Eurpean fling inspired by Henry James meeting Jules Et Jim, with fully rounded authentically delineated characters through whom Allen speaks with wit and a tinge of pathos. The film is impeccably cast an so entertaining and thought provoking that I just wanted it to go on and on. Cruz offers a stunning spitfire performance and emerges as a truly great actress. Hall is an actress to watch.., She reminds me of a young Claire Bloom. Allen tries a refreshingly spot on gently mockingly anti-American tactic here from a European perspective, perhaps reignited by the Bush years of arrogance. Allen has also matured, correcting a decade of lapsed creativity, viewing sex from different angles, as opposed to Phillip Roth's boring one-trick-pony approach ("Elegy"). The minor flaws are inconsequential. A tour de force revelation. Bravo Allen!!
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Cast & crew
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Javier Bardem, Patricia Clarkson, Penélope Cruz, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Messina, Kevin Dunn full cast
Genre(s): Drama
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 99 mins
US Release: Aug 15 2008
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