At last, at least, a return to nuances

Rating: 7/10 (6 February 2009)

Vicki Christina Barcelona is a surprising tapas of a movie: it deals with emotions, sex, even sexuality - and does so with panache.
Here Woody Allen makes the subtle subtexts shine again; there is a real honesty and openness to the writing - even when paradoxically the characters are hiding their true motivations - that lifts beyond many of Allen's films of the past decade.
All in all the laughs are there but in a more knowing sort of way, there are little insights and great performances and everyone obviously enjoyed the process here.
We particularly like the fact that this is a film about the heart and the mind; a film that encourages up to be neurotic if it helps us find love, and that anything is more important than settling - though settling is what we are all given.
A film to enjoy, a film to make you think, and if Match was about London then VCB is about Barcelona: a more wild, a freer, a more Guadiesque, even Daliesque Allen, and one that we mostly enjoyed.