Vicky Cristina Barcelona
This should be enough to characterize the movie. Harr. Okay, seriously, I think that the majority of the media about “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” was about that kiss; and surely those kisses were nothing special. In fact, there was barely any sexual tension between the two of them and that guy, personally I didn’t feel anything. It was well done, it looked good, but it’s nothing like the tension between Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger or Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal. Or is it just because I prefer kissing men over women? There is no way.
These superficial things aside, I actually think that the movie was quite brilliant. Okay, it was not exactly funny (or at least to me, Match Point and especially Woody Allen’s older movies were much funnier), it also had some annoying characters (Vicky’s conservatism was quite horrid and I didn’t like how Cristina basically destroyed two people’s lives because “she didn’t know what she wanted”) and there was this narrator (aaaaah!). But, it has a very charming story, it actually felt more uplifting than depressing for me and it had some great actors, in the role of some very intriguing characters. Especially the guy felt like a very natural Don Juan to me. He might be an asshole who jumps from one woman to another, but it doesn’t feel like that: he’s always very open about his feelings, his relationships with others like his ex-wife and with all things considered, he actually cared for the women with everything he did.
Oh, and Doug… I think he could have had a little bit more depth as a character. It would have made much more sense if he had felt that something was wrong with Vicky (maybe he would even have misunderstood it for something else), or in return, he had betrayed her with somebody like, say, Cristina, haha. Of course he was a somewhat annoying character, but ultimately he also is a nice guy who is completely immersed into his world.
By the way, I’m pretty sure that most women who have married for money are unhappy for the rest of their lives, because they are missing passion and true love, or at least signs of it. And so I don’t really agree with the introduction of Vicky as a girl who wants stability over everything so as to never become unhappy.
I can’t believe Woody Allen didn’t know Penélope Cruz at all before watching “Volver”. Surely she was great in that movie, and the role he gave her was pretty good too, but what the heck? What about her relationship with Tom Cruise after doing “Vanilla Sky”? What about the movie it’s based on, “Abre los ojos”? What about “Blow”? “All about my mother”?!
My ranking of Woody Allen movies looks like this right now:
1. Match Point
2. Manhattan
3. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
4. Annie Hall
5. Scoop
6. Celebrity
Of course, Celebrity is much, much worse than the others. On a scale from 1 to 10, if Match Point is a 10, Manhattan, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Annie Hall are a 9, then Scoop is more like a 7 and Celebrity a 4.
Well, Mr. Painter was definitely the most mature person out of them all. As you said, he was honest about what he wanted all the time.
The Kiss™ was really horribly overrated. The other, unspectacular one was much nicer.
I’m also unable to understand why he didn’t know La Cruz beforehand, but I’m glad as hell, that he ultimately got to know her! This delicious madness! I just can’t imagine anyone else as Maria Elena…
Am I a bad person for wishing Vicky an unhappy marriage? :P She did love Doug, so it wasn’t a marriage for the money, she just wasn’t true to herself (at all, stupid cunt).
Ugh, I hope you two loved Patricia Clarkson as much as I did?! And I too liked Mr. Painter the best! LMAO, that first seduction scene at the restaurant is one of my favorite scenes from any film this year!
I don’t really think switching from one person to another is really all that mature. His feelings do make sense, but I think the acceptance of this jumping around mainly comes from the way the movie deals with it: We only have a few tidbits of feeling of jealousy in it. While Maria Elena was a little bit jealous and repulsed at the beginning, Vicky and Cristina both accepted that Mr. Painter also liked the other – and Maria Elena. It’s a comedy after all; I don’t think reality actually works like that.
This seduction scene is so brilliant! I want some guy to walk up to me and say that I’m beautiful too, lol.
PS. Vote in the new poll! X3
Aaah, the seduction scene, indeed! Wonderful little thing. I already loved Patricia Clarkson before this and she certainly didn’t disappoint, mhm.
I shall abide by your order, dear Princess.
I knew that I remember Patricia Clarkson from somewhere, but yeah, she was brilliant as Vera in Dogville, and she should have gotten a larger role in this movie too (instead, they could have freed ourselves from Vicky a little XD).
It still says “Total votes: 0” Hmm :3 Well, it doesn’t matter.