Vicky Cristina Barcelona [Blu-ray]

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Vicky Cristina Barcelona [Blu-ray] It must be true that getting out of town can do a fellow a lot of good, because Vicky Cristina Barcelona is the best movie Woody Allen has made in years. Okay, you’re right, 2006’s Match Point already claimed that honor and, as Allen’s first film made in England, established the virtues of getting away from overfamiliar territory (namely Manhattan). But the Woodman’s first film made in Spain matches the ice-cold Match Point for crisp authority, and yields a good deal more sheer pleasure besides. Rebecca Hall (Vicky) and Scarlett Johansson (Cristina) play two young Americans, best friends, spending a summer in Catalonia. Vicky is going for a master’s in “Catalan identity” (though her Spanish is shaky); Cristina is going along for, oh, just about anything. That soon includes celebrated abstract artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), who’s anything but abstract in his forthright proposition that the two join him in his private plane, his travels, and his bed. That he has an insane ex-wife, Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz), who may or may not have tried to kill him is not really an issue until the wife reappears and … well, consider the possibilities.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona isn’t exactly a comedy, at least not in the manner of Allen’s “early, funny ones,” but it’s informed by a rueful wit that finds its fullest expression in reflective voiceover commentary. Spoken by Christopher Evan Welch, but surely on behalf of the 73-year-old auteur, this element of the film is neither (as some have charged) patronizing nor uncinematic; rather, it’s integral to the movie’s participation in a venerable European literary tradition, the sentimental education. Instead of Bergman or Fellini, this time Allen is invoking the François Truffaut of Jules and Jim and Eric Rohmer in his many meditations on the game of love. The entire cast is terrific (both Hall and Johansson get to play “the Woody part” at different points), with Bardem and Cruz especially delightful as exemplars of Old Worldliness. Cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe honors every drop of Catalonian sunlight and glint of Gaudí architecture. –Richard T. Jameson

Stills from Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Click for larger image)

Customer Review: Aside from the voiceover, it’s a pretty good flick
I do not understand why there is a voiceover narration in this movie. It is distracting. The narrator’s voice itself is rather nasal and not at all pleasant on the ears. It seems as if Woody Allen was attempting to emulate the ironic detachment and science-doc parody narrator of the far superior Little Children. He fails. The voiceover is NEVER used appropriately. At times, it actually impairs the performance of the actors. In one scene, for example, it tells us that a character is drunk. When you hire an Oscar winner like Javier Bardem, it seems safe to assume that he can play drunk convincingly, and that we don’t need a narrator to tell us this. And if for some reason he can’t do it, maybe all the empty wine glasses helpfully supplied by the prop department can clue us in. At other times, the voiceover carries us forward in time, or sets up a scene. A good writer can accomplish that with a few lines of exposition hidden in the dialogue, and a good director can accomplish it with a montage or some nifty editing. If I could ask Woody Allen one question about this movie, it would be why he suddenly felt he wasn’t equal to that task, and instead needed this wholly intrusive narrator to do his job for him.

Narration aside, I enjoyed the film. It’s just a fun, frothy, frisky romp though the Spanish countryside. The background is even more attractive than the cast. The premise is a little trite and the characters are paper-thin, but it certainly met my entertainment quotient, and my expectations. This in spite of the fact that, as is apparently usual with Woody Allen’s DVD releases, there are zero extras.

Oh, and as for that recent Oscar win? Penelope Cruz didn’t deserve it. Her performance is all flash — no substance, and no heart.
Customer Review: Woody does Almodovar, Sort of
It’s nice to see Woody shooting in an exotic setting, but there’s little here of Barcelona proper aside from a brief sampling of Gaudi architecture and a scenic street/alleyway. Several scenes appear to be of the Rambla, but they are tight shots, not long shots, so one does not have the full effect. That is not to say that the film is not beautiful. It is simply not an extended, loving portrait of Barcelona. That is somewhat surprising, since the film is part ‘Americans Abroad’ in the sun, getting into romantic situations they would otherwise avoid and part Almodovar, with passionate lovers fondling one another one moment and shooting at one another the next. The ‘Americans Abroad’ theme dominates. Its separate scenes are linked by an ongoing voiceover which I found to be intrusive and inauthentic. The film comes alive when Penelope Cruz enters, but the film lacks the exquisite script, urgency and momentum that one expects from Almodovar. Sorry, as Simon Cowell would say, but this was slow, very slow.

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Tagged with: Abstract Artist • Blu Ray Movies • Cheap Blu Ray Movies • Eric Rohmer • European Literary Tradition • FrançOis Truffaut • Javier Bardem • Jules And Jim • Maria Elena • Match Point • PenéLope Cruz • Play Two • Private Plane • Rebecca Hall • Scarlett Johansson • Sentimental Education • Sheer Pleasure • Wife Maria • Woodman • Woody Allen

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