 |
| Español: Estatua dedicada a Woody Allen en Oviedo, Asturias. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Arts Reporting
February 16, 2009
The Woody Allen Letdown of the Century
***** (2/5 Stars)
“Vicky
Cristina Barcelona” is Woody Allen’s fantasy, the overindulgence of a classic
chauvinist craving stunning young women in unrealistic circumstances. Her thesis: Not everything in the review refers
to the first sentence, but most of the review does. It’s a review with a strong
POV that draws on interpreting Allen’s earlier movies – and indirectly his life
– as a basis for very personal judgment of this particular movie. The legendary neurotic and romance
obsessed director of film staples including “Annie Hall,” “Sleeper” and
“Manhattan” reinvents his tired cultural commentary and sexual desires for a
new audience. She generalizes about the
consensus concerning his status, and I think she gets it right. That is, Woody
Allen was once a very famous director, considered one of the best, which judgment I've read hundreds of times. So I don’t say: sez who? The film masquerades as something new –
young cast, foreign location, but at the end of the day it’s just another
failed attempt to revive his lost charm. Oh,
she’s harsh. Harsh reads well if you back it up.
Now we get summary – but only after she’s explained
her basic take which gives her summary context. We know where she’s headed, and
we are attentive to the plot details she includes. The film follows two beautiful young women, Vicky
(Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) on a summer vacation to
Barcelona, Spain. The college friends lead conflicting lifestyles, but
seemingly more importantly, they seek very different fulfillment from love.
Vicky craves seriousness and stability, while Cristina pursues impulsive
relations and a bohemian lifestyle. One night in town a charming, exotic and
handsome painter named Juan Antionio (Javier Bardem) approaches the girls at
dinner and invites them to the town of Oviedo.
Cristina intends to sleep with Juan
but instead winds up with an aggravated ulcer, still he manages to charm the
pants off of Vicky for one evening of love making that causes aggravated
tension and frustration for the rest of the film. Not just details but how details fit together Once they head back to
Barcelona, Cristina and Juan become close and move in together. Vicky, obviously smitten with Juan, makes
plans to marry her seriously boring boyfriend. Juan’s beautiful and insane ex
wife Maria Elena (Maria Elena), the artistic genius that once tried to stab
him, tries to kill herself and moves in with Cristina and Juan.
Cristina first reacts as any woman
should Reviewer establishes her baseline, reveals her values – furiously. However, she quickly realizes that Maria Elena can provide
inspiration for photography, her new passion. Maria Elena builds her a dark
room, they make out a little bit and bam!, the threesome love affair is born.
Cristina becomes the figure that keeps Juan and Maria Elena from breaking each
other’s necks. They all love being intimate, artistic and romantic with each
other and the girls somehow have no problem sharing one man. (Must be quite the
man.) Nice little throwaway, a wink at
the readers that suggests something about the writer. Drama, broken hearts,
promise of a life of discontent and romance ensue and all stories wrap up just
in time for the girls to head back to the States at the end of summer. Has she given away too much of the plot?
Maybe. But you could also say she does a good job of describing how the plot
forms a knot without describing how it unravels, so she hasn’t given away
everything.
The contrived Here’s the payoff for her earlier plot description. Did her summary make the story sound contrived? story was only
worsened by heavy-handed voiceover. It felt like a storybook, a photo-essay at
best. More on her basic reservation. She
wants it to be plausible. And she implies an important aspect of the film: It
is a kind of travelogue. Allen indulged every whim, Short word demolishes him. It’s a word with negative connotation. beautiful
young starlets locked at the mouth, Dirty
old man? Allen's personal history makes this an easy shot violent artistic genius, not
sure about violent? and beautiful scenery. It wasn’t fantastic enough to be
imaginative, but wasn’t controlled enough to be believable. Preceding sentence makes me stop and think,
and I’m not certain I get her meaning. But it *sounds* smart. Allen
transports his tired discourse about the perils of romance, the boredom of
stability and the aggravation of love Preceding is a pretty good judgment of some of Allen’s fundamental
concerns as expressed in his many films. If I haven't talked about the rule of three, remind me. to a new location, but not even Barcelona
and beautiful women can breathe fresh life into them. What is the point of watching a movie about
Woody Allen’s neurosis if he’s not even in it? Yeah. He was an entertaining comic actor until he started to get old.
The triangle is an old shape for
Allen. Instead of developing one love story well, he incorporates as many as
possible, leaving all of them un-relatable. Interesting. I see how she can argue that. The romance felt
completely detached, uninspired and boring. The quirks, charms and humor of the
past replaced with a mundane shell of broken relationships devoid of any
passion besides sex and anger. Of
course, sex and anger are pretty good passions when it comes to driving plot.
But again she implies that Allen’s movies should seen in the context of what
he’s done before. I’m getting a sense she’s writing to an audience that cares
about movies and has seen a lot of them rather than people who have never seen
a Woody Allen movie. She may be implying we should bring a higher standard to the work of an established artists. The characters, mainly artists by trade, lack the
personality and intelligence of the intellectuals Allen chronicled in past
films. Fascinating idea. Allen knows intellectuals but not artists.
Allen’s new muse, Johansson, is a pitiful inspiration
compared to Diane Keaton. If you don’t
know his movies, this doesn’t mean
much other than to suggest the reviewer isn’t impressed by Johansson.
This is clear structure. Now we turn to the
things she liked. Despite disappointing
characters, overbearing voiceover and clichéd storylines, the film looked
beautiful and had a lovely soundtrack of Spanish guitar. The camera captured
the historic allure and seductiveness of Spain’s cities and countryside. Each
shot was filled with vibrant and rich colors, perfectly suiting the rich
texture of the instrumental soundtrack.
“Vicky
Cristina Barcelona” proves that even the best writers and directors can become
predictable and trite. A statement of
general principle it would be hard to disagree with. Hopefully Allen finds
a new muse who can give him a lesson in innovation. It’s time for the second
coming of Allen’s heyday. As editor, I’d
ask her to rewrite her last sentence. I don’t think heydays come twice, though
accomplishments similar to those of his heyday might.
In general: She makes emphatic judgments, and
she provides enough substance defending them that I can live with those that
are asserted but not defended. That’s how it can work. If you have enough
supporting detail, the reader goes along with your glittering generalizations. This
review is aimed at people who know Woody Allen’s career and his many movies. As
an editor, I’d ask her to put in a couple grafs directed at someone who has
never seen a Woody Allen movie. How would such a person react? Is this a bad
movie or a bad Woody Allen movie, if you know what I mean? Now, what did I think
of the movie? I liked it because it was so darn pretty, both landscape and
actors, and – from my POV – a slight meditation on how Americans don’t quite
get the sophistications of Europe – a theme that goes back hundreds of years --
that love bruises and amuses but you get over it (no harm done) and maybe learn
from it, just one more step toward rueful maturity. However, because our
anonymous reviewer is a young female, I honor her POV. She is a character in
this movie in a sense, and you could argue she has more invested than I would
in whether or not the audience thinks this movie is representative of her age
and gender. She has shown me another way to look at the movie, and I appreciate
the perspective. Bottom line is that I am entertained by the way her mind works, by its fierce engagement with the movie.
And just for fun let's link to Roger Ebert's review of the same movie. You will note some similarities to the student review: Both reference Allen's career and both include a good deal of plot, though Ebert includes less. You will also note differences: Ebert has taken notes and has some specific bits of dialogue as well as more comments about specific bits of filmmaking history and technique. But the big difference is that - even though, as David Thomson suggested, Ebert is as true to his feelings about the film as is the student reviewer - they are very different feelings. He is at a greater distance from the emotional turmoil in the movie - with age and pain come greater distance from the emotional turmoil of youth and a muted nostalgic fondness for it. (Indeed, what are movies other than borrowed memories?) Also, there's no sense he is using the movie as a way of conjuring up the complexities (some would say the nasties) of Allen's personal life. Does that make his review better than the student review? No. Just different. Personal.
And just for fun let's link to Roger Ebert's review of the same movie. You will note some similarities to the student review: Both reference Allen's career and both include a good deal of plot, though Ebert includes less. You will also note differences: Ebert has taken notes and has some specific bits of dialogue as well as more comments about specific bits of filmmaking history and technique. But the big difference is that - even though, as David Thomson suggested, Ebert is as true to his feelings about the film as is the student reviewer - they are very different feelings. He is at a greater distance from the emotional turmoil in the movie - with age and pain come greater distance from the emotional turmoil of youth and a muted nostalgic fondness for it. (Indeed, what are movies other than borrowed memories?) Also, there's no sense he is using the movie as a way of conjuring up the complexities (some would say the nasties) of Allen's personal life. Does that make his review better than the student review? No. Just different. Personal.
No comments:
Post a Comment