Woody and his “love” for Barcelona – and I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it!

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is possibly Woody Allen’s best “European” film. Not that I hate the movies he’s made in London, but there is just something “off” about them. By trying to transplant the life style of New Yorkers directly to what he understands as Britishness, Allen looses a bit of his touch, since some situations seem simply inapplicable. In VCB that doesn’t happen because Allen humbly puts the focus on the views of two American tourist girls, and this “small” twist makes all the difference in the development of the plot.

Of course VCB is not one of his best films (to me that would be a very selective list, that would include gems such as The Purple Rose of Cairo), but it’s not on the “worst of” list either. Another good point of the movie is that it is “woman centric”: besides the tourists, there is also some room for other interesting female characters - the ones played by Penélope Cruz and Patricia Clarkson. Rebecca Hall (Vicky) and Scarlett Johansson (Cristina) give believable performances as well.

One might not agree with the way relationships are portrayed in the film, but still the least it can be said about it is that it is entertaining. However, perhaps the most important element is indeed Barcelona: after all the polemic BS (sorry for the language, but it is just the precise word for this case) some people gave about the film costing a lot to the local government, it is appeasing to see such a beautifully photographed homage to the capital of Catalonia. In this sense these local critics should just shut up, swallow their unkindness and pray for more directors like Allen to come to work here.

It also has one of the "coolest" movie posters seen lately.