vicky cristina barcelona

Went to the Watershed with the lovely Ithaca crowd yesterday to see Woody Allen’s latest film “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”. The first line of the Watershed’s blurb describes the film thus: “Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson burn up the screen in this sexy black comedy of impulsive romance set against the vibrant colours and rhythms of Barcelona”. Whilst, in many ways, this encapsulates the film it fails to point to what, for me, was the heart of the movie – namely the straight-laced Cristina character (Rebecca Hall), who effectively plays the “Allen part” with her self-questioning uncertainty…. hovering between passion+restraint and desire+duty. It’s an engaging film, not much more than that for me – although it did evoke very fond memories of our trip to Barcelona some ten years ago.

Perhaps it’s time we returned!