Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The movie that I chose to review was Vicky Cristina Barcelona. The director of the movie is Woody Allen, who is also the writer. The movie was released August 18, 2008, and can be categorized under two different genres. The first is romance, which became obvious as soon as we heard Juan ask for a threesome. The second genre is drama, this is because Juan has an ex-wife, still in the picture, and he is also having an affair with an engaged Vicky.
The storyline begins with two average American friends, Cristina and Vicky, who decide to take a trip to Barcelona. While on this adventure, they meet a well known painter by the name of Juan Antonio. Vicky is surprised when a romance blossoms between Juan and herself, because she had no intention of cheating on her fiancé. Cristina, on the other hand, is immediately influenced and seduced by Juan’s charm and free spirit. As the summer goes on, Vicky spends a lot of time with Juan and she begins to question her decisions as well as the situation she in at home. She begins to questions her morals as well as her role as a dedicated future wife. While Christina is with Juan his ex-wife enters and the plot thickens. Over time, Vicky finds that she is beginning to develop feelings for Juan.
According to the International Movie Database there are many key words. A few of them are Spain, Summer, Painter, Suicide Attempt, Art, American Abroad, Photography, Infidelity, Sex, Gunshot wound, Break up, Lesbianism, and threesome. This film has won approximately 16 awards and was nominated for 23 others in both America and Spain. Some of these awards were the Oscar for best supporting actress, an Eddie for best edited feature film, the critic’s choice award for best comedy movie, and several others for best supporting actress.
This film has a very well-known cast, which consisted of Rebecca Hall (Vicky), Scarlett Johansson (Christina), Javier Bardem (Juan Antonio), Christopher Evan Welch, (narrator), and last but not least Penelope Cruz (Maria).
The movie has many different settings all over Spain. The main filming locations were Barcelona and Catalonia. The movie was original in that the dialogue was in both Spanish and English with the main language being English.
The dialogue was one of the most interesting components of the film. One line that I found particularly interesting was delivered by Juan: “Well, now that the day’s almost over, is it reasonable of me to ask you if you’ll both join me in my room?” This was interesting to me mainly because it is the single worst pick up line that I have ever heard.
In my opinion, this movie had its ups and downs. It is not the type of movie that I would typically watch in my free time, but it was not unbearable either. I felt like there was a large stereotype throughout the entire movie in regards to the libido of Spanish men. I also felt that the movie was semi-predictable in that the audience could tell from the beginning that Vicky and Juan would eventually end up together.
The scenery was one of my absolute favorite components of the movie. Since I am very interested in photography, I can truly appreciate the different settings taken around Spain.
Overall the movie itself was decent, but I do not believe that it would be something that I would choose to watch in my spare time.
