Monday, 24 May 2010

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a gorgeous film about the complexities of human relationships and after watching it for the first time, I love it already. The film is based around two best friends, Vicky and Cristina as they spend their summer in Barcelona. Vicky is very traditional in her views of love and life, and plans to marry her very 'safe' fiance and live happily ever after. Cristina, on the other hand, is very fluid and spontaneous in her views of love, becoming a very likeable and interesting character. Here, they meet a very complex and mysterious spanish painter, Juan Antonio. He tells them he is attracted to both of them, invites them to spend the weekend with him and after hearing of his troublesome times with his ex wife, Cristina agrees. Penelope Cruz gives an absolutely fantastic performance of Juan Antonios ex wife, Maria Elena, who is psychotic, full of passion and complexities, a very different role for Cruz. Cristina, Juan and Maria all engage in a relationship together which is an interesting topic to tackle, handled very passionately and exciting. Vicky, having fallen in love with Juan after a weekend of love, gets married to her 'safe' husband against her deepest wishes. The film tackles the complexities of human emotions and the way they can be so fragile and delicate, and being situated in Barcelona only adds to the romantic feel of the movie. The witty voiceover worked very well, the style of the movie was gorgeous. The way in which people seemed so humane in the film was fresh, after Cristina learns of Vickys love for Juan Antonio, she doesn't do your typical 'you bitch' scene, but stresses that if she had known she would have stepped aside which I thought was very understanding. The way in which Vicky was torn between this passionate, romantic spanish artist and her safe but kind husband was such a 'worst nightmare' crossroad situation. The four main characters were fantastic, they were cast brilliantly. The contrast between Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz worked beautifully and their performances were delivered with elegance. Javier Bardem played a great sexy, exciting, 'tortured artist' that worked well with his accent and tall-dark-&-handsome looks. In general, I think the movie was fantastic and I really enjoyed the way in which the girls returned from the chapter of their life in the same place as they started but feeling completely different life in general, making conscious decisions about what they want in life, and more importantly, who.

3 comments:

  1. If you enjoyed this can I suggest you look at two other Woody Allen films - Annie Hall and Manhattan. The themes are similar but they are vastly superior to his Spanish outing.

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  2. I don't really like Woody Allen but I did like 'The Purple Rose of Cairo', it's pretty good...I really want to see 'Vicky Cristina' though, I might have to now!

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  3. I really wanted to see this when it came out but I never managed to make it to the cinema, but this review has encouraged me to go and rent it out, thanks :)

    But just out of interest, how does the v.o 'work'? I usually get put movies who use v.o's - was it just because it is funny?

    :) xo

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