Vicky Cristina Barcelona

I think has a special ressonance for me, as both a writer, and a traveler. As a young college student, I wouldn't claim to have watched Woody Allen's entire ouevre, but from the twenty or so that I've seen, some I've liked, some I haven't liked, some I loved, and some I wish I didn't waste my money with, but this movie seems to be unlike anything he's done, while being so similiar to all of his films. The dramatic display, the performance he gets from the actors, is so spot on, it is no wonder the film won best comedy at the Golden Globes.Vicky Cristina Barcelona is on first viewing, a travel film. Two young American women who fall for the same spaniard painter Juan Antonio (played by Javier Bardem). Vicky (Played by Rebecca Hall in an amazing performance), is engaged to be married, likes responsibility, and doesn't like something that effects the norm, finds herself alone with the painter when Cristina--who was first drawn to the painter--gets sick, and they share a night together. She says nothing however and the two women go back to Vicky's Aunt's house, where they are staying. They don't hear from Juan Antonio for some days, and when they do, he calls for Cristina. Cristina (wild, artistic bohemian, played by Scarlett Johansen in such an erotic and beautiful performance) is instantly taken and starts a relationship. Unlike many American/Hollywood movies, Vicky neither shows bitterness nor anger, though some despondency. What seems like a tamed love story that you begin to wonder where it will go, quickly becomes something completely different. One night, Maria Elena (Juan Antonio's ex-wife, played by Penelope Cruz, with a fierceness that deserved the Golden Globe Nom) tries to commit suicide, and Juan Antonio picks her up from the hospital and brings her home. Without revealing too much, the film begins to become male fantasy, and a meditation on art and connection and friendship and self-discovery.On the second viewing, you start to pick up the subtleness of the cogitation on love and romance, the possibilities and restraints of romantic love (unrequited love is the only form of romantic love) as the movie espouses, for neither Juan Antonio nor Maria Elena can stand each other, but then neither can they stay away from each other for long (odds are, and you might get this feeling also) they'll probably one day end up killing each other.On a third viewing the film becomes a meditation on art, on beauty, on how those two things coincide with love. The tears from the Spanish Guitar, the emotion driven upward from the playing of such gentle music. Vicky can be seen reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (the book is on her bedside table), and Cristina can be seen reading Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer.The voice over, this has been a point of discontent for some on the message boards on IMDB. This voice over, some say, shows what a hack Woody Allen has become. But I must disagree. The Voice over I believe aides in the story, it describes in a flat tone sometime the most erotic of scenes, but this aides in keeping us grounded in the story of the girls, and not in the lust, or sexuality that's portrayed in the film. It helps develope and move away from American Travel movies, away from the actual events, and allows you to remember to watch the girls, watch their lives, watch the film, and not get drawn away into your own imaginations. I believe the narrator was used much more effectively than it was in Little Children. It also helps you understand where you are in the movie, through this foreign country, and gives the feel of a book.This movie may very well be my favorite Woody Allen film, with some excelent performances as only Woody Allen could pull from an actress (what director in the world has gotten fifteen nomination for writing--two wins--sixteen of their actors nomination for acting--five wins--and six for best direction--one win). It was funny, romantic, intellectually stimulating, and each viewing there's something new.If you like Woody Allent, I do believe you will like this movie, and I do believe you will adore these characters. For me, still in my twenties, an artist with large aspirations, in a moderately upper middle class family, this film seems to be made exactly for me. Besides Adaptation and Wonder Boys, I haven't felt like that about a movie, and I go to see one to three movies a week--not to mention rentals and old buys. So I feel I have a certain credibility to my opinion--but again, it is only my opinion. I say buy it, if you don't like it, give it to someone who is the exact opposite of you, give it to your Cristina (we all have a friend that's exactly opposite of us and so much the same), and maybe you will be giving them a film that they can love as much I love it.

Everything was perfect. Thanks a lot

This is a Woody Allen classic. It's a story of best friends Vicky and Christina who travel to Barcelona for a summer and find love in quite different ways. The film is very entertaining and gives one two quite different views of love and it's ever changing ways of making people act and feel. Definitely a movie worth watching.

It's been a LONG time since Woody Allen gave us a film that was truly meaningful and had something "deep" to say about life, love and the human condition. My favorite is HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, but CRIMES & MISDEMEANORS and HUSBANDS & WIVES (with Sydney Pollack's and Judy Davis' greatest performances) are Allen's most recent classics. Since that time, almost everyone would agree that his work has been pretty mediocre. In recent years, MATCH POINT saw Allen moving to London and the change in locale seemed to energize him into making his most "un-Woody" film in ages and a darn good psychological crime thriller at that. But SCOOP and CASSANDRA'S DREAM (also London based), offered rapidly diminishing returns. So Allen has moved to Barcelona, Spain with VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, and once again, the rewards of this new location have jazzed up the Allen formula. However, the film still fails to reward on a philosophical level. It is a surface level delight, with a wry irony about the human condition.In brief, the story starts with two rich, bored American girls coming to Barcelona for a summer. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is engaged to marry a nice, safe, boring stockbroker type...a man who is mostly interested in picking their perfect home in the perfect NYC bedroom community. Her friend Cristina (Scarlett Johansen) is more a free spirit. She scorns the idea of settling down. Early in their visit, they meet Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a somewhat well-known artist. He's something of a lady's man, and he brazenly invites them to come to his country villa for a few days, where they will see beautiful sights, drink nice wine and make love. This is after he's known them for 30 seconds. Vicky basically tells him to bug off, but Cristina accepts, and Vicky finds herself going along, ostensibly so that she can keep an eye on Johanssen.I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that "romantic" (or at least sexual) entanglements follow. They are made far more interesting with the return of Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz), Juan Antonio's ex-wife. To say that she is a "fiery" personality is putting it mildly. She is looney tunes...but also very artistic, sensual and intuitive. She and her ex have one of those relationships where one is the moth and the other the flame...they constantly burn each other yet instinctively they can't avoid each other.I've tried to reveal little of what actually HAPPENS in the film, because part of the fun is to kind of guess who will fall into bed with whom and when and why. Suffice it to say that this is all frothy fun. While the characters endure some pretty gut-wrenching, soul-searching times...for the viewer there is nothing to take terribly seriously. That isn't necessarily a bad thing...but it's what puts this film just below "classic Woody" status. It's a vigorous and fun film...looser than his movies have been in awhile. But perhaps it's the Spanish flavor that has made it all seem a bit trivial. The characters are all impossibly witty (when AREN'T they in an Allen film?) and there is also a narrator (and this device, of course, makes it a little tough to get drawn in deeply).But the good outweighs the bad, for certain. Allen's script is VERY fast-moving and really pretty darn funny. His characters are all fairly likeable and there are ample opportunities for all four lead characters to shine. To me, Rebecca Hall was the eye-opener. She is pretty much unknown to me, and I don't know how or why Allen cast her...but he had a pretty good eye with this one. She reminded me of Frances O'Connor (another obscure name, I know...but perhaps a little less so to some). She's strikingly intelligent and she plays her character with a believable mixture of reserve and vulnerability. When unexpected deep feelings hit her, she is "unmoored" from her image of herself, and it's fun to watch her grow and change. It's also GREAT fun to see her in the last scene of the movie...the point she arrives at in the end is the closest Allen comes to poignancy in this film. Javier Bardem is very charismatic. His character is barely more than a caricature (a hot-blooded Spanish artist with amazing skills in seduction!)...but Bardem makes us believe that Juan Antonio really is this person. But what Bardem also does is show that while Juan Antonio wants to seem deep and warm and intuitive...he is really quite shallow and ineffective. Also, if the last time you saw Bardem was as Anton Chigurh in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN...you'll be amazed at how very, very different this guy is. Penelope Cruz has been receiving a lot of accolades, and she is certainly a character who truly stirs the pot when she arrives. To me, the part is the most underwritten of the four, and thus a little less successful. However, I don't blame Cruz...she really pulls off the almost manic/depressive personality of Maria Elena with great energy. It is Scarlett Johanssen who comes off the worst here. I'm not a huge fan of hers to start with...she can be a remarkably still and self-possessed actress...but I actually find her stillness not so much representing an inner life, but to show dullness. I'm sure Scarlett is sharp as a tack and probably great fun in real life...but her acting, very effective in roles like GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, leaves her feeling stiff and unconvincing in parts like in VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA that call for vivacity and some raw sensuality. She is a contrast to the other women on the screen...but it's not really a contrast between fire and ice. It's a contrast between fire and another fire that has been doused with water and is now just a burnt-out ember.If you've never liked Allen's movies before (and I know many people who can't abide him)...I feel there's a chance you might actually enjoy this one. Except for the VERY Allen-like voice of the narrator, the Spanish setting creates a warmer, more colorful tone than we've seen in awhile. If you're a fan of Allen, then I believe this is a must-see.

Good movie. Had some funny twists and turns. I suggest it! All three stars did great job!!

This movie is a clear exposé of human sexual nature. Here we have the old lady married with a lover on the side, just keeping the typical monogamous marriage institution alive, on one side the moral lady and inside the natural woman.We have the typical American girl Vicky that is engaged and want to fulfill her American Upper Class societal role that succumbs to nature. You have the typical free and carefree societal American Butterfly, Cristina) that is experimenting life and has no moral issues whatsoever. On the European side we have Javier Barden the typical Dalí reincarnated and Penelope Cruz, a neurotic extremely explosive Spanish Artist. That as a matter of fact acts more as the typical Latina or Spanish wife than a exwife.In here you see a rare thing, the effects of power transfer and power stacking that happens is a Ménage a Trois. You se the forbidden fruit of a open poly relation that only lasted a moon cycle.The movie explores the hypocrisy of our social arrangements and the cost of marrying the wrong person! Maybe happiness lies in the freedom to be able to have whatever you might want.