Straight to DVD

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

I'd pretty much given up on Woody Allen. That's saying a lot, since like many a native New Yorker, I was raised on his movies. I found the unique combination of caustic wit and humanism in the films he made in my youth irresistible; he was the first director whose films I simply never missed. And I was shocked to discover (in college—I had to leave New York City for this) that there were people who didn't share my Woody worship, and even some who said they "didn't get" Annie Hall.

When his movies began to decline a bit in the 1990s, I remained faithful (as did Whitney, who was similarly inclined). But by the turn of the millennium, we had to admit that the annual Woody Allen trek to the art house was putting us through some terrible films. Finally, after suffering through The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, we did what had once been unthinkable: We skipped one.

We never really went back, either, catching only bits of the subsequent films on television. But when we started hearing "Woody's back!" talk about Vicky Cristina Barcelona, we took notice. Maybe it wasn't a fluke. Maybe getting away from New York had given Woody fresh perspective. Maybe we could be young again....

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is about, yes, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson), two young American friends vacationing in, yes, Barcelona. Vicky, who is engaged to marry a stable banker-lawyer type, aims to spend her last single months enjoying the culture and art of a region she's always loved. Cristina, more of a free spirit, is more or less tagging along, searching for love in ways she can't put her finger on.

One night at a restaurant, the pair is approached by Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a handsome painter who matter-of-factly invites both to fly with him to a nearby town for a weekend of viewing art and "making love." Cristina is intrigued; Vicky is appalled but, not wanting to leave her friend alone with this stranger, agrees to go along. The weekend goes according to expectations at first, with Vicky hostile and Cristina ready for action. But when Cristina gets seriously ill and is confined to her bed, the other two are forced to spend time together on their own. Juan Antonio's disarming charm breaks down Vicky's defenses, and after an evening of wine and Spanish guitar, it's she who is making love with the Spaniard.

Upon their return to Barcelona, Juan Antonio begins dating Cristina (who knows nothing of what happened when she was bedridden); she has soon moved in with him. Vicky finds herself shaken: She can't get Juan Antonio out of her head, but her marriage date approaches, and the object of her obsession is living with her best friend. When her fiancé (Chris Messina) proposes marrying earlier than planned in Barcelona, she acquiesces, feeling she'd be destroying any number of lives if she did anything else.

For their part, Cristina and Juan Antonio are living together happily until the appearance of the fiery Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz—the good-actor version who speaks mostly Spanish and not much English), his ex-wife, who has just attempted suicide. Explaining to Cristina that Maria Elena is destitute and has nowhere else to go, Juan Antonio takes her in to live with them, knowing the mix will be explosive.

Allen spends the rest of the film exploring the emotional responses of both young women to their unexpected situations, and he happily avoids many of the predictable clichés of "discovery" movies. (In fact, this film challenges the very notion of life-changing experiences.) He's helped immensely here by the skill of his actors, including the remarkable Hall, whose many-layered portrayal of a self-assured young woman's sudden crisis of confidence is a true breakout performance.

In fact, the acting is so good that it almost covers the film's flaws-in particular, the implausibility of the two Spanish characters. The magnificent Bardem still manages to flesh out his character, somehow making believable Juan Antonio's quick change from dog to saint. And Cruz, whose performance earned her a Best Support Actress Oscar nod, clearly enjoys sinking her teeth into the wild, borderline-crazy Maria Elena.

There's also no question that getting out of his old New York haunts has been a good thing for Allen's filmmaking. His passion for all things urban seems alive again, for the first time in years, and as Vicky and Cristina explore Barcelona, Allen and cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (Talk to Her) make you want pause the movie and book a flight there.

And really, despite my kvetching, that's more than enough. If Vicky Cristina Barcelona doesn't meet the stratospheric standards Woody Allen set for himself back in the '80s, it is nonetheless a clear return to form: entertaining, engrossing, and even thought-provoking. So maybe I'll start eagerly awaiting the next Woody Allen release after all. Or at least the DVD release.