Alive, vibrant and emotionally resonant.

Rating: Null/10 (18 February 2009)

Woody Allen is a filmmaker known for his somewhat counter-culturist views upon romance, love and the modern relationship in all their nuances and tiny, overlooked details that elude the consciousness of your average audience member. As a result, Woody has never quite achieved global acclaim from audiences world over, and has, to this day, stuck largely to the shadows of movie-as-art cultists and to the pages and pages of film reviews penned by adoring film critics.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which unmistakably sees the director returning to a form that has been rather murky in his latest works, is no real change of pace for the artist, sculpting an anti-romance of sorts that reaffirms tragic, romantic love in ways of truth and transient beauty rather than cliché and formula. This blatant disregard for cinema, and indeed society's views upon what love is, should be and should not ever thrive for, is sure to grate on the more reserved viewer's willingness to attach to a world stripped of its façade and safe, cosy pretensions. If anything, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, despite its minor faults here and there, attains a sense of coherency and fulfilling social catharsis that propelled the director to stardom decades ago, all the while without tiresomely repeating himself.
Of course, one of the ways in which Allen immediately distances himself from both his previous works, and the very idea of traditional, American-filtered romance is by shifting the location from skyscrapers and hot dog stands to villas and small markets. Taking place entirely on location within Barcelona itself, Vicky Cristina Barcelona manages to strike a tone that is both romantic and yet without whimsy pretence; for sure, there are elements to Woody's story here that border on breaking the illusion of passion that he is adamant to create, but such instances are too often overshadowed by the director's keen eye for beauty kept in check with a distinct key of realism.
This extra blend of unpolluted truth and introspection into love comes sharply into focus with the movie's central male character who comes in the form of bohemian artist and lover of life in all its bitter cruelties and tragic delights, Juan Antonio Gonzalo (Javier Bardem). Juan, at times, can be a little overwhelming, not just for those on screen, but for those watching it all unfold; his very outlook on life isn't the accepted standard for romantic films of this kind, and yet this is his very pulling power. It's not long then that the two female (American tourist) love interests of Juan soon come to see that not only is Juan something quite unlike anyone they have met before, but that his very presence unsettles their preconceived ideas and plans that they thought beforehand- were perfect.
It is this element of Vicky Cristina Barcelona that gives it its real zest and subtle form of vibrancy if you will, establishing a formless, boundless, counter-viewpoint on love, romance and sexual relations. As such as Juan's bohemian mind state often dictates, Allen reflects the ideas of said lifestyle in his portrayal that goes beyond his characters' development and at times even seeps into the narration and artistic deliverance of his feature. From the beautiful, elegant on-location photography that complements the script's themes poignantly to a score that establishes a romantic, foreign overtone to everything that is played underneath, Vicky Cristina Barcelona provides a romantic film experience that does not pander to the expectations of its immediate audience, instead giving a sharp, focused, and all the more convincing and compelling portrayal of romance that questions the very reasons we fall in love in the first place.
Most Hollywood features refuse to ask such questions however, and it would seem that a large majority of audiences would rather not be presented with the answers either. Yet as has been the case with Woody for many decades now, such under-the-rug apathy never did interest either him or his admirers, and in that vein at least, Vicky Cristina Barcelona satisfies by telling a story sure to adored by anyone ready for art that speaks in its own whimsical, neurotic yet safely grounded and human, honest and beautifully poetic way. Granted, there are some problems inherent to the overall experience that Mr. Allen paints us here (one of which simply being that I wanted more), yet cushioned with four flawless performances, chemistry that leaps off the screen and a screenplay that consistently breaks boundaries without resorting to stultifying disregard for narrative, Vicky Cristina Barcelona most importantly feels alive, vibrant and emotionally resonant.

A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)