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I think I read some where recently that Woody Allen
has made about 40 pictures--I may have seen 6-7 of them mainly when
Diane Keaton was his muse and a few of his Mia Farrow films but I grew
very tired of him as an actor/director very quickly. His movies
obviously make some money as he doesn't seem to run out of financing
and he always finds producers. Iunderstand his last two movies, made in England, were a lot better than quite a few before them.
I heard good buzz about "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" so I decided to go see it mainly because Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz are favorites of mine. There are 3 reasons to see this movie: 1) Javier Bardem
who has gotten rid of that 'helmet' hair and is back to playing the
sexy hunk he is 2) Penelope Cruz who really shines in this movie and
when she appears about half way through brings the film to life--is it
Woody's directing or just letting her act her role the way she wants??
Doesn't matter because she is the film! 3) The cinematography is
stunning--you want to get onthe next plane to Barcelona!!!!
What's
wrong with this movie?? Where to start?? Okay, Scarlett Johanson (who
plays Cristina) gets top billing--why? I have now seen her in at least
a half a dozen movies and couldn't tell you the name of one of them.
She is a vapid actress who brings nothing to the screen or her roles.
The second worse thing about this movie is a completely useless
narrator who is allowed way too much time adding nothing to the film. I
am not familiar with Rebecca Hall (who plays Vicky) who comes across as
vapid as Johanson.
The story is about all
aspects of love (well, almost, as Woody is afraid of gay male love on
screen)--there is right love, wrong love, lesbian love, bisexual love,
can't live with him/her, can't live without him/her love, marrying for
respectable reasons, being married and falling out of love with your
spouse, being unfaithful secretly and openly, etc., but Woody Allen
brings nothing new to the subject(s). For a film as sexual as this and
all the setups Woody makes it seems almost asexual.
The screen comes to life when Bardem and Cruz are there especially in their scenes together and they bring Johanson and Hall (well almost) alive when acting with them.
It
has been a long time since "Manhattan" which I believe is/was Allen's
apex and he hasn't come close to it in many years and certainly not
with this film. I think I can skip his next 5 or 6 films (but he does
get interesting actors to appear in them!!!)
