Fascinated by the kind of synesthesia that occurs at the opera wherein “you end up listening more with your eyes and seeing more with your ears,” Australia Chamber Orchestra Artistic Director Richard Tognetti was inspired to see if the same phenomenon could be true of film.
Commissioning documentarian Jennifer Peedom to help put this to the test, the two worked alongside Mountains of the Mind author Robert Macfarlane, principle cinematographer Renan Ozturk, and Oscar nominated actor Willem Dafoe to create Mountain.
Best described by Peedom as “a marriage of music, words and picture,” in which all but nine of the film’s seventy-four minute running time is devoid of music, this ambitious follow-up to her 2015 award-winner Sherpais an extraordinary sensuous feast.
Longing to explore the various ways in which our ever-changing relationship to mountains have changed in a relatively short period of time, Peedom tapped Macfarlane to pen the film’s intentionally sparse narration.
A writerly marvel, with its rhythmic blend of research and poetry made all the more intoxicating by Dafoe’s pitch-perfect delivery, in spite of its short length, Macfarlane's script would make quite a compelling book in its own right.
Cutting the film’s excellently curated and state-of-the-art original cinematography together with its Australia Chamber Orchestra soundtrack of Chopin, Grieg, Vivaldi, Beethoven, and new compositions by Tognetti, we’re hypnotized by the way Mountain’s constantly moving camera glides over snow like a bow over strings.
Watching traffic queue up a mountainside curly-cue style before showering the screen with an almost otherworldly view of the night skies, Peedom and her team use music, cinematography, and editing to give us a vicarious emotional experience of the Everest highs to the volcanic lows of mountain life that's simply amazing to behold.
Filmed in twenty-two countries, this experimental work pushes the boundaries of what we use to define a documentary. Released in three distinct versions including theatrical, IMAX, and a special live edit to go along with orchestral accompaniment, Peedom's film dazzles regardless of format.
That said, of course, similar to the way that climbers need the best gear, audiences do as well. Much like its subject, size (and in this case sound) matters, and this Mountain is best experienced on the biggest screen you can find.
Brava Italia's roughly 180 minute running time is divided into three episodes dubbed "The Proud Tradition," "The Beautiful Life," and "The Eternal Country." Yet the titles themselves aren't merely bookmarks for this stunning celebration of La Dolce Vita (aka "The Sweet Life") since each contain a key word that hearkens to the theme of both this unique production as well as the people who work, live, love, and eat in the country in which it's set.
Narrated by Italian-American GoodFellas actor Paul Sorvino and featuring one of world cinema's most revered directors in the form of Godfatherand Apocalypse Now filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, Brava Italia, which previously played on public television, showcases the lives of the people that tourists usually look past whilst taking in the extraordinary sites.
The 2008 work captured in a 16:9 cinematic widescreen ratio was shot with state-of-the-art high definition cinematography that naturally ensures a gorgeous transfer DVD and likewise makes you anticipate a future release of the title on Blu-ray to best appreciate the technical precision involved.
Yet Brava Italia surprises viewers with a largely documentary based approach achieved by balancing out the informative narration and the genre's requisite travelogue feel. Thus, Bravais worth a "bravo" for its dedication to the titular "Proud" and "Beautiful" lives and traditions of the Italian people who are the heart of a country that remains eternal in terms of its rich culture and legacy, felt on Italian soil and elsewhere through music, food, goods, and with the discoveries of faraway lands like the United States of America twice by Amerigo Vespucci and later Christopher Columbus.
The result was produced by those responsible for the best-selling Visions series of titles that have enabled superlative armchair travel toEurope, Italy, Britain and Ireland in other Visions offerings from Acorn Media's Athena Label. And while Brava goes more in depth in the lives and history of the land, this wonderfully warm endeavor still remains true to their earlier style.
Namely, Brava doesn't abandon the scope of their Visions via the documentary's cinematographic showcase of exquisitely detailed tours that we either wouldn't find in travel agency brochures due to their use of aerial photography or be able to experience on our own because of their ability to swoop directly into locales we'd normally only be able to see with binoculars.
Without worrying about financial, work, family, or health related obstacles that may have prevented your adventure to "the boot," Brava Italia stimulates your senses with the sights and sounds of the country to such an extent that you may feel temporarily transported with the music of Caruso and images of the snowy Alps... no ticket, body scanning, or packing required.
As this gorgeously photographed historical travelogue began, I kept trying to give host Brian Sewell the benefit of the doubt. After all, I have a particular fondnesss for British fare to the extent that I've become someone who has even grown to enjoy that particular push and pull of feeling both extremely intrigued and terribly repulsed by Gordon Ramsay's antics to the point that I just can't stop watching his shows.
Thus when it came time for Brian Sewell's Grand Tour of Italy, I was determined to get to the root of Sewell's grumpiness or at the very least just try to ignore it and have fun. Unfortunately, the result became a guessing game that took away from the beauty of the Italian scenery and culture of the series.
Yet the blame for this is not with the particular undisputed scenery and culture on display as Italians have produced some of the finest works in history but the fact that surprisingly our host seemed to hold them in such little regard is what plagued me endlessly. You know you're in trouble within minutes when you question just why on Earth he'd decided to choose this particular assignment to take on since throughout the production Sewell often made condescending remarks about the Italian race (aka my descendants) by implying that the Italians were of an inferior or lower class.
However, similar to Simon Schama whose recent work about America also had the subtext that perhaps he may not be the world's biggest fan of the subject matter-- despite his interest and expertise-- Sewell clearly knows his stuff. And to this end, he delights (as far as I could tell) in revealing the world's most bizarre bits of trivia throughout this ten episode set which was transferred to four slim-packaged DVDs in a high-quality offering from Acorn Media and Athena that boasts a 20-page viewer's guide to celebrate the work as one that promotes lifelong learning.
Sewell's journey through Italy follows the historic "Grand Tour" initially embarked upon during the completion of the education of young male British aristocrats who came to Europe under the guise of becoming more refined. While they definitely engaged in studying the classics where the fine arts were concerned, Sewell springs to life when he gets to abandon his art historian hat for a moment and turn into a male version of Gossip Girl, relishing in the most scintillating, lascivious, scandalous, and some downright disgusting play-by-plays of their escapades which consisted of hedonistic abandon, sexual debauchery, gambling, and gluttony.
Yet although he dutifully follows the traditional Grand Tour in painstaking detail, he does so in a manner that seems as though he's either auditioning to portray Henry Higgins or try to get hired for work on an audiobook as a stereotypical stuffy aristocrat since disturbingly the sense that the country of Italy, the Italian race, and its culture are treated by the host as though it's completely beneath him.
However there could be a reason for this discomfort on film or in the special since to his credit he definitely livens up during the wit filled gossiping segments or when oddly objectifies Italian men with strange comparisons to "macaroni" and describing the way they stand with their feet at three o'clock.
Still, sadly, Sewell is never a warm host nor does he come across as someone you'd actually want to be around for more than a few minutes at a time which makes the length of the documentary quite a test of one's patience since he seemingly goes out of his way to make backhanded compliments to the Italian artists he's there to praise.
Several times I kept thinking that unfortunately in addition to this wonderful set having been produced as an outlet for those seeking additional knowledge, it was also hopefully intended to help offer a worthwhile celebration of a country. In fact, as such a popular tourist destination-- no doubt it's one that so many of us would love to see but for some reason or another may never be able to visit either due to expenses, work, family duties, medical issues, etc. and therefore I wanted to yell at the television and by extension Sewell, "take a happy pill or look around-- you're getting paid to vacation in Italy, man!"
However, we cannot judge a person themselves based only on subjective documentary footage so again, his unwillingness to loosen up preoccupied me once more. Likewise I found myself wondering if perhaps the yawns he was seemingly attempting to stifle were from the wicked jet-lag he'd experienced flying from his home base in London writing for the Evening Standard and offering his coveted advice to museums located on three continents.
Needless to say his professional resume and brilliance as an award-winning expert cannot be disputed as the discs are chock full of worthwhile information. However, the fact that this time we couldn't blame the lack of grins or expression on Botox or pancake makeup but what just seemed to be an inability to celebrate "La Dolce Vita" definitely made Sewell's Tour far less Grand and instead one perhaps best appreciated with the sound turned all the way down.
To a majority of readers more familiar with supermarket paperbacks than Penguin classics-- Jack Kerouac's On the Road seems on the surface as though it's most famous for establishing the author's challenging style of beat literature comprised of creative punctuation, bizarre sentence structure and dreamlike thoughts that went on for pages before he'd insert the final period.
Yet, in spite of the meandering labyrinthine stream-of-consciousness that can easily overwhelm-- Jack Kerouac inserted four simple words that inspired the the following generation of hippies to take to the highways, interstates, and small town side streets with a little shoe leather, luck, optimism, faith in their fellow man, and (of course) their thumb when he typed, "the road is life."
Of course, Kerouac's publication of On the Road was more than fifty years ago and as we just discovered via Warner Brothers' recent release of the--yes-- fortieth anniversary edition of Woodstock which means it's not only been forty years since Hendrix wowed the muddied masses with "The Star Spangled Banner" but also forty years since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
And ironically, instead of wanting to continue adventuring and exploring, we've all gotten pretty used to our surroundings. Thus, with violence on the rise as we're endlessly reminded with manipulative newscasts that make us scared of our own shadow-- the mythical idea of Route 66 and the freedom to be had On the Road or journeying along with Steinbeck and his dog in Travels With Charley seems like the least rational thing our technologically advanced society would ever want to do. I mean give up iPods, BlackBerries, Starbucks, Facebook, and Wii? Are they kidding?
And pop culture reaffirms these fears in every opportunity imaginable. Whether Hollywood scares us with fact-based Oscar fodder like Monster wherein a young woman starts hooking after catching rides from sleazebags on the interstate until she becomes a serial killer or in Into the Wild where one young explorer freezes to death in Alaska-- the bottom line is, it doesn't seem appealing to take to the road. Of course, these are respected films and I haven't even addressed the fictitious thrillers about people who take a Wrong Turn, get lost in The Blair Witch Project, tick off the wrong trucker a la Duel, Breakdown or Joy Ride, or meet their grisly demise in endless hitchhiker slasher movies.
So when two seemingly intelligent, humorous, and good-natured young men decided to voluntarily test out the theory of whether or not kindness is still alive in these United States (or at least on our highways) by hitchhiking from New York City to Los Angeles in one week with the goal of not spending a single dime the entire way, initially as a viewer I began to fear for our protagonists from the start.
Obviously, I knew both were alive and well since Ryan Jeanes-- who I hadn't realized at the time was the "hitcher" in the piece had contacted the site directly about his documentary-- but sure enough, I wasn't alone as in an attempt to buy time since they now admit on their website that "we were both afraid to start," Ryan and his director, camera operator, editor, friend, collaborator and fellow-hitcher Phillip Hullquist walked around New York City asking people at random what they thought of their plan.
While a few acknowledge tentative "what the hell? life's an adventure" pieces of encouragement, a majority manage to say exactly what I was thinking which is, "man, that's just too dangerous." Intriguingly, although I was thinking of the logistics and indeed the safety questions since as a film critic, I'm very familiar with the "crazed hitcher" or "innocent hitcher gets ride from crazed lunatic" genre, some of the scenarios dished up to Ryan and Phillip by people on the street were more colorful than most horrific B-movie plots involving wild urban nightmares of being held hostage in a basement for seven years or threats of being disappeared to somewhere else entirely etc.
Obviously, the opposite of a pep talk and more like those campfire stories kids take turns telling to try and freak the hell out of the other kids at sleep-away camp-- amazingly, Ryan and Phillip start their journey which ultimately consists of twenty-three rides. While I won't share whether or not they meet their goal, which they made all the more urgent by purchasing a plane ticket to fly home from L.A. meaning they'd miss their flight if they didn't manage to make it across the continental U.S. in seven days-- I was surprised by just how entertaining the movie turned out to be.
And it's bolstered no doubt by Ryan's naturally charming personality as he makes an ideal host/protagonist for the documentary (reminding me of a funnier but less political version of Super Size Me's Morgan Spurlock). As aside from some understandable moments of frustration especially when they hit a dead standstill in St. Louis for a very long period of time-- he somehow manages to remain likable, upbeat, and positive throughout but the most impressive aspect about The Hitchhiking Movie is to be found via its exceedingly impressive post-production polish.
Despite a few typos here and there, the editing by Hullquist is first rate and it must have been one extremely long and tedious process of pouring over countless hours of footage. While I didn't have enough time to listen to the commentary tracks (including one described as "drunk") so this answer may actually be revealed in the other audio options, I was fascinated by the technical aspects of the process, longing to find out more about that side of it as well as how they kept charging the batteries for the camera and Ryan's cell phone throughout.
Livening up what could otherwise have been a pretty long one-note journey of Ryan Jeanes hoofing it across the U.S. and trying to snare some rides (minus Claudette Colbert's memorable sultry leg tease in It Happened One Night),not only is Jeanes a terrific on-screen presence as the documentary alone could be served up as a TV correspondent audition tape but Hullquist's instincts to whittle it down and sharpen the focus made it compulsively watchable from start to finish.
Thankfully inserting much needed subtitles to make up for the lack of professional boom mics and sound equipment so we can gain a greater understanding of the alternately wonderfully memorable stories of those nice enough to give the young men a ride as well as some of the incredibly strange anecdotes-- Jeanes also layers the piece with narration that compliments it perfectly and goes right in sync with post-production graphics that appeal to short attention spans.
Tallying up the free stuff shared with the hitchers from bananas to fast food and the countdown of the trip-- they also provide us with a visual breakdown of the journey (stopwatch, location etc.)-- all of which raised the level of this screener to a far more professional degree than I was expecting.
The film is for sale on their website as part of their 11 Visions company where the guys interact with fans who encourage them to embark on other adventures (including one they're tackling this summer). And despite a title and premise that makes you immediately worry that The Hitchhiking Movie is an indie slasher pic-- it's a funny and endearing celebration of the American spirit and life on the road which Kerouac said is "life," and the thousands of people we pass along the way whether they're in cars, on sidewalks or on the interstate trying to dodge the local police.
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As frustrating as it is upon discovering that some of our favorite hidden cinematic gems have gone out of print-- either when studios, subdivisions, and/or manufacturers collapse or the titles simply no longer earn any money to justify the cost-- it's doubly disappointing when ardent fans ascertain that a beloved, thrice Oscar nominated and double Golden Globe winning work work has never found its way onto DVD.
Of course, we all have our wish lists of items we long to add to our home library. For me, topping that chart is Rich Man Poor Man (which others have raved about for years in a way that's given me intense miniseries-envy) along with the television series Ed and every individual season of The Larry Sanders Show. And while those all may just simply fall under the radar as far as studio or DVD manufacturers go-- it's time for Anglophiles to rejoice as enthusiasts of Four Weddings and a Funeral director Mike Newell's languid 1992 British European crossover hit, Enchanted April will be thrilled to learn that Miramax Studios is releasing the title at long last on DVD May 5.
Just in time for a more Masterpiece Theater styled Mother's Day tie-in gift-- this originally made for British television work which instead was turned directly into feature film material was adapted by screenwriter Peter Barnes from Elizabeth von Arnim's novel.
Enchanted April, which had been brought to the screen once before nearly sixty years earlier than Newell's big-screen foray centers on an unlikely quartet of British women who pool their money together in the 1920s to venture to a grand medieval villa in the picturesque riviera setting of San Salvatore, Italy.
Hoping to unwind for a leisurely month away from their hectic lives and-- (in the case of two women)-- their husbands back home, soon the group of diverse female heroines begin to forge unexpected friendships in a foreign land despite their obvious differences in age, class, income, and situation.
The cinematic retreat via a meditative sabbatical among the flowers, crystal blue ocean, and amazing artwork of Italy was first hatched as a hypothetical “what if?” daydream following a well-written advertisement for an escape to an Italian castle in the brain of the daffy and conveniently mostly reality-free Lottie Wilkins (East Enders star Josie Lawrence).
Although she barely knows Miranda Richardson's Rose Arbuthnot-- Lottie's desire to ditch London's endless, gray days filled with the rains of “April Showers”-- not to mention the thrill of being able to earn a much needed break from her business-obsessed husband (Alfred Molina) strike a chord with Rose who's likewise saddled with an inattentive, flirtatious husband who masquerades as a salacious scribe (played by Moulin Rouge's Jim Broadbent).
Thus, deciding she's in as well-- especially after meeting with the property owner, Mr. Briggs (an effectively likable, understated Foyle's War star Michael Kitchen) who feels the pangs of a crush upon meeting Richardson's luminous Italian museum-like beauty-- Rose and Lottie realize they must seek out two additional strangers with whom they can foot the bill.
To this end, they meet the blunt, proud, fussy but worldly and secretly lonely Mrs. Fisher (Joan Plowright) along with the wealthy flapper with a reputation in the form of the film's powerful scene-stealer Polly Walker's Caroline Dester who breaks hearts daily but must hide her own under the armor of money, makeup, and men.
Unbeknown to Rose, Caroline Dester has been trying to divert the attentions of the Rose's aggressive, cad-like husband Frederick (Broadbent) away from herself which becomes far more difficult when Frederick drops by the Italian castle to visit the woman he's hoping to recruit as a mistress, only to discover his wife is in the exact same location.
It's at about this time-- roughly clocking in right around the one hour mark of this overwhelmingly slow-moving and at times unspeakably yawn-inducing picture-- that we're finally presented with anything resembling a plot that contains dramatic conflict and the potential for a great Oscar Wilde meets Midsummer Night's Dream inspired comedy of romantic misadventure in a sensuous locale.
However, the potential is squandered quickly as the film which begins as a spirited, free-thinking, pre-feminist work about a group of women who go against the male-dominated society in the post World War I devastation that made everyone reconsider their lot in life soon becomes a forgettable and ultimately plot-less work wherein the women escape their gray "prisons" of unhappy matrimony only to invite their "wardens" to visit them at the first opportunity.
Of course, while some may say it's fitting for the time period-- Edith Wharton, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald and other writers were doing far more daring things with their female characters and overall, despite the polished performances and high quality art direction and costuming (by Oscar nominated designer Sheena Napier)-- mostly it's a beautiful but vapid time-waster.
Additionally, it's one so devoid of a compelling plot that I was stunned to discover that Peter Barnes earned an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay which wastes precious time in its shockingly brief running time with useless repetition of information as the women discuss something, act on it, and then the action is confirmed again by the predicted and discussed result, padding out the already succinct ninety-three minutes.
Further letting audiences down in 2009 since we realize that we've not only seen the same type of "women discovering themselves in foreign lands" works completed to a much richer result as in the Miramax morsel Chocolat and another Disney owned Buena Vista Home Entertainment work Under the Tuscan Sun, unfortunately while the packaging for Newell's work is first rate in a regal black and gold box as part of Miramax's "Award Winning Collection" and a painterly cover featuring the lovely Polly Walker (State of Play), the film itself doesn't appear to have been touched up in the slightest.
Essentially matching the same VHS quality I'd first encountered with it-- even when I played the DVD in an upconvert Blu-ray player-- while the Italian Riviera still sparkles with warm loveliness, I was surprised by how grainy the color scheme was and tried to adjust the settings the best I could to improve the flesh tones of the actors and augment the low sound transfer (which is usually never a problem with the sterling quality of Miramax releases).
Of course, to fans, it's just a great joy that the work has finally debuted on DVD seventeen years following its first theatrical run but for those who haven't yet seen the picture, you may want to rent it before you make the decision to add it to your home library, since despite my reverence of my favorite studio growing up in Miramax, it seems to be one of the lesser works and a nice preview of the better work to come from Newell in the future. And to Newell's admirers, it's definitely one to pick up if only to listen to the brand new bonus feature as he participates in a feature commentary track along with his producer Ann Scott. However, to the rest of us-- we'll be far better satisfied with a piece of Binoche, Depp and Hallstrom's Chocolat.
Spanish Seduction & Sophisticated Wit Arrive on DVD & Blu-ray 1/27/09
Woody's Muse: Scarlett Johansson
An Introduction to the Film and DVD
Recent winner of the Golden Globe for Best Picture Musical or Comedy, Vicky Cristina Barcelona-- one of two superior films from Woody Allen released in 2008 following Ewan McGreggor and Colin Farrell's turn in the dark Cassandra's Dream-- is set for release on DVD on January 27, 2009.
Debuting on both DVD and Blu-ray in time for both Oscar consideration along with giving the chance for my fellow Independent Spirit Award voters (remember to cast your ballot soon!) a reminder of its lovely brilliance and understated charm, recently The Weinstein Company and Genius Products were kind enough to send me an advance copy of the DVD for review.
In taking in the feature for the third time-- being so charmed by it during my first viewing in a small press screening early in the morning that I feared I'd taken so many notes, I needed to go again to watch it with an audience, this time around I found myself even more captivated by its sophistication. And granted, as a huge Allen devotee, I must admit to being disappointed by the lack of extra features, having experienced countless other films of the writer/director's on DVD with similar sparse presentations, lessened the blow considerably.
While it's no doubt the type of film that will make one want to travel not only to Barcelona but especially Oviedo which our seductive lead Juan Carlos (Javier Bardem) whisks both Vicky and Cristina (Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson, respectively) early on in the ninety-seven minute delightful romp, I'm thrilled to announce that as someone who's recently been spoiled by Blu-ray riches in evaluating the quality of picture and sound, the DVD transfer for this film is one of the best for a standard disc that I've seen since Focus Features' release of Burn After Reading.
Like Burn-- incidentally, a fellow Globe nominee for Best Picture Comedy-- after a few moments, I nearly mistook the DVD for Blu-ray quality although granted I was viewing the film in my player with the up-conversion making it seem as though the Spanish countryside had invaded my living room.
While the film should definitely garner some Oscar attention and the terrifically funny Penelope Cruz gives her best performance since Volver and has won an amazing number of accolades for her turn (including recognition from the National Board of Review), this time around, I was especially captivated by Rebecca Hall.
In a layered and subtly nuanced portrayal, she manages to convey several conflicting thoughts despite her deft Allen dialogue in two key scenes including the first when Juan Carlos (wearing a bullfighter like red shirt) makes his "indecent proposal" and the second when he toys with her when the two dine alone later before an evening of Spanish guitar and impulsive lovemaking.
While the ensemble is perfectly in tune with their roles as obviously some parts (including Johansson's, of course) were written expressly for the actors, this time around it was Hall that I felt was most deserving of a second look and hopefully Oscar will take note, this year possibly breaking free from their tradition of avoiding comedies like the plague to see the human comedy and wit evidenced in every frame of this-- one of my very favorite films of last year.
Woody Allen signs up Scarlett Johansson for Spanish lessons in love with Professor Javier Bardem.
One of the most annoying things about being a writer is that I’m best able to process things with my pen or at my keyboard when I’ve had a moment to let things sink in. I’m a big believer in note-taking, especially in film criticism because automatic writing allows some pools of unrealized creativity to eke out. Sometimes I discover things of which I’d been previously unaware until I read back the barely legible sentence fragments I’d scribbled out on a tiny notebook in a darkened theatre. Yet, as a writer first and foremost, I have a harder time with extemporaneous speaking. The wonderful PR agencies and studio representatives who are kind and courageous enough to screen their films for us wait expectantly with notebooks in their own hands in well-lit lobbies, hoping to get our immediate reactions. Often I struggle to come up with something that’s not only intelligent but balanced. If I hate a film, as a polite Midwesterner (or it could be just feminine instinct), I always find that I want to find something — anything — to say about it that’s positive before I apologetically express my dislike.
Yet, intriguingly, when I’m blown away by a film, often I’m nearly equally at a loss for words. Case in point: Vicky Cristina Barcelona. On the surface, it begins as a typical Woody Allen film with a European feel including a voice-over narration which in this case works well since the setting is Barcelona as we follow two American female tourists on summer holiday. Predictably, issues of love, sex, infidelity, and artistic temperament come into play, per Allen’s most frequently visited themes.
Yet, as a huge Allen fan who’s seen every one of his films (including some I can practically recite from memory), I couldn’t get over the feeling that had I walked into the theatre after his traditional black and white credits had rolled. Just five minutes late and with no prior knowledge of the piece, I wouldn’t have guessed in a million years that it was a film made by Woody Allen.
And admittedly some of his works — even the light, entertaining trifles of the past few years — have felt self-conscious and claustrophobic, which make his epic tragedies like Match Pointand Cassandra’s Dreamfar greater by comparison. However, I'm thrilled to write that Vicky Cristina Barcelona is breezy, earthy, intoxicating, and frankly, sexy as hell.
And yes, I’m aware that as a professional, “sexy as hell” isn’t the most astute observation yet as the only female critic in attendance with a small crowd of men no doubt hoping to ogle Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz’s much-discussed “threesome” (which ultimately consists of a passionate kiss and discussion), I felt a need to represent how the film played to a female audience and one of the first phrases out of my mouth to the eager representative was in fact “sexy as hell.”
Sex has always been Allen’s topic de jour, but whereas it’s been so cerebral in his other films, discussed to death so that it’s nearly clinical (for example, Annie Hall), this film celebrates love, sexuality, and humanity in a life-affirming and dare I say optimistic approach, atypical of the notoriously pessimistic, introspective Allen.
Why so sexy, you may ask? Well, surely the country’s setting helps, photographed to breathtaking effect by award-winning Spanish cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (Talk to Her, The Sea Inside, The Others) as does the beauty of the film’s leads including Johansson and Cruz, but mostly, the sex appeal is best personified in the unexpected, pitch-perfect, dreamy performance by Javier Bardem.
Bardem, best known to audiences for his Oscar winning turn playing the “bubonic plague”-likened killer in the most recent Best Picture winner, No Country for Old Men, continues to amaze, showing colors to his personality we never knew existed such as warm humor and irresistible mischief, and Barcelona makes terrific use of his range from the start.
Although one could nearly anticipate the internal groans in audience members as the film began using a lengthy narrative voice-over by introducing us to our leads, ultimately the old-fashioned technique sort of fades into the background as the film goes on — still commenting, yet in a way that never overpowers the main storyline. Quickly we become acquainted with best friends, the grounded and responsible Vicky (Starter for 10 actress Rebecca Hall) and the often dissatisfied, feisty, and passionate Cristina (Allen’s latest muse, Scoopand Match Pointstar Scarlett Johansson). Whereas Vicky has her life all planned out, pursuing a Master’s Degree in Catalan Identity and planning an upcoming wedding to the decent, stable, and successful Doug (Chris Messina), Cristina is endlessly searching for any new adventure to whisk her away.
They both get much more than they bargained for when, staying with family friends (Patricia Clarkson and Kevin Dunn), Cristina catches sight of the smolderingly mysterious presence of Bardem’s Juan Antonio, an artist still reeling from a bad breakup with his ex Maria Elena (Cruz) who tried to murder him before they parted. Whereas most women would run screaming in the other direction upon hearing tales of domestic violence, Cristina becomes all the more intrigued, later using her feminine wiles to attract his attention at a nearby bar. A few hair tricks and eyelash bats later, Juan Antonio is soon at their table, first asking if the two women are American before fixating on Cristina with the painterly come-on, “What color are your eyes?”
Predictably, loosened up by the wine, thrown off her game by his gaze, and generally disoriented by her foreign surroundings, Cristina falls for it hook, line, and sinker. Vicky is far more skeptical, especially when, just seconds after he begins chatting them up, he proposes the two travel with him by plane for the weekend to Oviedo, in order to look at a favorite statue of his, drink wine, and make love in an only-in-the-movies speech which recalls Sirk’s Written on the Wind. And while we can sense Cristina mentally packing her bag, Vicky finds his bravado obnoxious, telling him off before ultimately, and predictably, she ends up going along to chaperone her friend.
Of course, once they arrive in Oviedo, Vicky is quick to realize that she may have misjudged the painter and soon, both women are taken with Juan Antonio, which sends Vicky into a guilt-stricken panic as she’s promised to the dull but secure Doug and Juan is endlessly prone to obsessing about his ex. Things get far more complicated when, late into the picture, Maria Elena reenters his life in a firestorm of neurosis and passion.
Cruz attacks the role with a fearlessness we’ve never seen before and she’s sure to generate Oscar buzz for a performance that for once doesn’t treat her as an exotic, angelic beauty, but celebrates the complexity of her larger-than-life artistic ability. Allen, who had only seen the actress in her Oscar nominated Volver according to the press notes, was thrilled when Cruz’s reps contacted him directly upon learning that his latest feature was to be set in her homeland. And while, she picks up the pace considerably, it’s relatively easy to get swept up in the spark-filled scenes between her and Bardem without realizing just how good some of the supporting players are in the less showy roles. This is most notably easy to do with the talented Rebecca Hall’s understated, subtle and contemplative Vicky as well as Johansson, who, in her third collaboration with the auteur, is game for anything he throws her way.
With what could have been a rather obvious send up of Jules and Jim, Woody Allen finally hits his stride with this frothy, sexy work. Undeniably hip, refreshing, and wonderfully indicative of the twenty-first century, Vicky Cristina Barcelona showcases a side of Allen that wasn’t evidenced in the classically executed (enjoyable yet mild works) The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Small Time Crooks, and Hollywood Ending.
Although given the gorgeous leads and locales, all audiences are sure to find themselves taken in by the film’s sex appeal, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is an entirely welcome summer inclusion for sophisticated, thinking women after several months of fun yet admittedly testosterone-fueled juvenile buddy comedies and CGI-driven superhero pictures.
And much like fellow New York filmmakers Martin Scorsese before him did with The Departed and Spike Lee offered with Inside Man, Allen has released one of his best works in years, by widening his lens, opening his mind, and traveling to Spain. Oh and by the way, did I mention that it’s sexy as hell?
Walking Movie Encyclopedia at Film Intuition; 3-Time National Award Winning Scribe; Film Reviewer; "Watch With Jen" Podcast Host; Screenwriter; Movie Discussion Host; BA in Film Studies & Communication.
