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RTTO: Vicky Cristina Barcelona

February 6, 2009 6:15 pm

Director: Woody Allen

Cast: Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz

The Buzz: Nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category

The Run: Won Golden Globe for Best Picture (Comedy or Musical)

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Truffaut meets Almodovar

Thank god we have Clint Eastwood. And thank god we have Woody Allen. One of the most gifted people of our times, Woody Allen is perhaps the only depressing-looking guy that can induce such energy into anyone. And those scripts. And those scripts. And those scripts… He has returned with Vicky Cristina Barcelona, with a script that isn’t as jaw-dropping as Match Point (2005) but fantastic in its own way.

We follow the lives of the two clearly defined titular characters – Vicky, played lovingly by Rebecca Hall, is a very conventional person. She knows her boundaries. Her morals are moderate and her opinions on love, platonic. She believes in commitment to love and nobility of the same. Scarlett Johansson’s Cristina is the quintessential free-loving European with absolutely extreme opinions on love and the restrictions it imposes. They meet Juan (Javier Bardem) in Barcelona, a divorced artist who is seeking to restore his inspiration. Both the girls find him totally wild and so different in their own way. Now leave it to Woody Allen to bring the essentially Almodóvar-esque twist to the plot. Enter Penelope Cruz. Cristina realizes how all her ideologies are no more than youth’s desperate fantasies. Now these are just a fraction of the twists and turns the roller coaster film goes through. Woody Allen elicits extremely natural performances from his stars with Cruz standing out in style.

Many feel that the voice over that Allen provides is needlessly repetitive and could have been completely done away with. But I believe it eases up the whole film a bit. Allen, visibly, loves his characters and with this voice over he provides them safety. He looks back into the past with a tinge of humour now that everything is over and done with. He does not make us believe that there are going to be serious ramifications and heavy drama as a result of these relationships that the characters get into. So, the voiceover aids the film to never put down the light-hearted atmosphere that is already being developed by its beautiful actors, its characters and Barcelona.

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Posted by Just Another Film Buff

Categories: All Posts, Hollywood, Marathon

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5 Responses to “RTTO: Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

  1. And isn’t he brilliant? What do you think of Everyone Says I love You, if you have seen it.
    I feel you would have seen beyond its “light-heartedness”, a quality ascribed when critics are short of appropriate adjectives.

    P.S: Notify follow-up comment feature is a welcome addition.

    Like

    By Kartikey on February 6, 2009 at 8:40 pm

    1. Saw it at last! Light hearted indeed, but as deep in its self critique as his previous films. As if Allen is absorbing the whole wide world instead of making himself aloof from it all, for once.

      Watching this guy’s films is indeed a very humbling experience.

      Like

      By Just Another Film Buff on August 29, 2009 at 10:51 pm

  2. Hail WordPress for the feature!!!

    Unfortunately, I haven’t seen Everyone Says I love You. But I am sure that with a man like WA behind it, there is much more than meets the eye. I’ll take that as a recco. Thanks…

    Like

    By Srikanth Srinivasan on February 6, 2009 at 9:27 pm

  3. My movie(VCB) experience is only complete with your blog! You are my WA.

    Like

    By blogjamun on February 8, 2009 at 10:17 pm

  4. […] Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona […]

    Like

    By A Shot At The Oscars « The Seventh Art on February 20, 2009 at 9:35 pm

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