Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008 92min.) [Ch4 12.00am &+1]
Directed and written by Woody Allen.
"Life is the ultimate work of art"
Woody Allen's romantic drama starring Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall and Penélope Cruz. While on holiday in the beautiful Catalan countryside, Cristina and her soon-to-be-wed friend Vicky fall under the spell of seductive local artist Juan Antonio. But the arrival of Juan's volatile ex-wife Maria Elena soon complicates matters.
Down to earth, sensible, engaged to be married Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and her free-spirited friend Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) travel to Barcelona where they encounter a bohemian painter (Javier Bardem) and both become, to various degrees, enmeshed in his world and life.
Every time that Allen releases a new film the critics and reviewers go into paroxysms and attempt to divine whether it's "a return to form", "a partial return to form" or "shows no signs of a return to form".
There's two points to be made about this attitude and approach to his work :
1) It's highly unlikely that Allen even wants to make films like Love And Death, Manhattan or Annie Hall any more. He's an older man with changed priorities, to not evolve over the course of the thirty years since Manhattan would be much more of a crime than to no longer be producing films that make mainstream cinema goers laugh.
2) It's a remarkable achievement that a man in his seventies still has the energy and desire to produce a new film every single year without failure. It should also be celebrated that he seems to do so with a dedication to the independent spirit, steering clear of big studio money wherever possible and, thus, avoiding any sort of conflict with his artistic vision.
From this stand point "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" stands as a perfectly fine and reasonably amusing film. It's not got huge messages to send, instead looking gently at the way that people of different temperament and background react when faced with something outside their previous experience.
The two titular leads are both very well cast and delivered and Bardem takes the role of the boho artist and adds some depth, life, charm and sensitivity.
The city plays it's part in the film too, providing an intriguing background to many of the location shots - part of Allen's continuing fascination with cityscapes and architecture (Manhattan, the Venice segment of Everybody Says I Love You.)
The screen is stolen though by Penelope Cruz who turns up at the half way mark to throw in a performance that's all wild hair, bared teeth and barely suppressed natural force. Working in Spanish (for the most part) certainly seems to help too; as with her work with Almodavar she's an alluring and captivating screen presence and Allen makes the absolute most of her ability.
On the downside I could have done without the voice-over narration, on the plus side it's good that Allen no longer feels the need to cast himself as the romantic lead (or at all) in films to which he's physically clearly unsuited.
It's a short, snappy (96 minutes) reminder of why Allen should be allowed to carry on making films for just as long as he feels the need.
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