The short and tall of it for you - Vicky and Cristina, two young Americans (early 20s) escape for a summer in Barcelona, staying (as we all do) with wealthy ex-patriots who now own wonderful villas on the city's outskirts. Sexual and emotional exploration abounds, most prominently for Vicky and Cristina (although not at the same time) with sultry Catalan artist Juan. Juan's ex-wife, Marie-Elena (Pen Cruz) joins the fray, resulting in more sexual exploration for Cristina (this time, at the same time).
Not even in Almodovar have I seen a director who can handle the Spanish scenery so beautifully. The easy, siesta lifestyle of the people in Barcelona and Oviedo is brought to life to such a great extent, that I left the cinema feeling very jealous of the various lunches and dinners and balmy summer evenings the characters enjoyed. At times, perhaps I felt as if the director was so enamoured by the locations that he filmed a travel documentary rather than a movie - but even so, it's nice to see Woody Allen getting out of New York for once.
His neuroses didn't travel with him - which i'm grateful for. Normally, in Woody Allen films, one character is set up as the neurotic, self-analysing protagonist who fails at almost everything until the last five minutes of the film - normally, Allen is rather good at this caricature himself. With 'Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona', there is a set of characters altogether more composed. Scarlett Johannson's character, Cristina, is so aloof that if the aeroplane had landed in Russia, I doubt she'd have noticed or minded.
Javier Bardem's character is artistic to the extent of being a bit fucking annoying, and despite his rip-roaring and sultry attitude (he looks as if he's acting whilst sleeping) - I can't help but think his character to be one-dimensional.
Penelope Cruz - the little firecracker extraordinaire - puts in a blinding performace (the only one) as ex-wife turned lunatic Marie-Elena. Darting between Spanish and English like bullets from a gun, she is charged and energetic, a true emblem of a fiery Spanish culture where the heat and the passion mix like gunpowder and the naked flame.
This is a film about love. But not in the typical rom-com sense, nor love in the sense of that poor Indian girl Kevin Costner grows to love in 'Dances with Wolves', not love like email love between Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in 'You've Got Mail'. This is pure Dionysian love, ripping the heart in pieces, the type of thing that Greek poets talk about and Greek Gods fought about. We can't really put our fingers on it, it's nothing tangible. But somehow - Woody Allen has tried to, and only those that know about it will really know what he's talking about.
For the rest, it's a great video about Spanish culture - with some pretty attractive people in it.
See it.
To Do: Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona.
2 comments:
you could say that this movie explores female sexuality from a modern liberated perspective. but what i would say, is even though these females let lose and get all experimental, they are objectified and caricatured. the passionate looney, the uptight puritan and the confused but easily swayed ingenue all come together to play out woody allen's wet dream. and i think the voice over action helps to kind of ridicule and trivialize their thoughts and feelings. i read in an interview of scarlett johanssen that she likes doing allen films bc he knows how to write women parts so well. i couldnt disagree more.
His daughter was 'adopted' though right? There's no bloodline - so in Greek terms, it was legit. No?
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