Vicky Cristina Barcelona / Woody Allen

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

category: romance, director & writer:

Woody Allen

original copyright 2008

watched in August 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10, watchable but only if there's nothing else

Woody Allen: loathe him or... well, loathe him.

According to the blurb, parts of this are, "so ferociously funny." Well, no. The video shop has it marked as, "drama". Not really.

There are these two young women. One is ditsy, unsettled, promiscuous and, naturally, blonde. The boring, unadventurous one is, naturally, brunette. And by "naturally" I mean "cliched". The hair itself may have been from a bottle.

They spend a couple of months in Barcelona. And in some other Spanish city. There are some interesting backdrops, with no real feel for being there.

Interesting point: In all of Barcelona there are only two Spaniards, both artists. Everyone else -- everyone in camera range, everyone who gets a speaking or even nodding part -- is American. A fine example of how travel can narrow the mind.

There is also no atmosphere. No excitement. Do you imagine Barcelona to be a vibrant city? A noisy, exciting city, a full-of-life sort of place, bustling with hot-blooded Mediterranean machismo? Well... not in this movie's sanitised version of Barcelona...

No matter where they go, no matter where they eat -- there is no background noise. No traffic. No conversation. No signs of other life. The characters may as well have never left the Hollywood studio.

Finally, the movie ends. It does not "conclude", it simply "ends".

The two Spanish artists are left to their mutually destructive ways. The blonde tart goes off on her self-destructive way. The boring brunette accepts that her life is and ever will be, boring. Nothing has changed.

Perhaps there are lessons to be learnt. Perhaps the characters note those lessons. They then continue, having ignored all possibilities of learning from the lessons.

A couple of American chicks get screwed in Barcelona. Then put it all behind them. The end.

..o0o..

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