Allen finds a place for his relationship drama/comedy overseas

Rating: 8/10 (8 September 2008)

When you think classic Woody Allen and then you think of the last 15 years Woody Allen, two sharp and distinctly opposite thoughts come to mind. Classic Woody is all about the people, crazy neurotic people looking for love and self-fulfillment/discovery. Last 15 years Woody is all generally...weird. "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is finally Woody finding himself in a modern context - taking what made him famous and making it work with multiple audiences.
"Barcelona" takes place in the city of the same name as two women, Vicky (Hall) and Cristina (Johannson), best friends with distinctly different views on life and love, are both smitten by a Spanish painter named Juan Antonio (Bardem). Both women's definitions of love are called into question by the odd but alluring man and even his definition is called into question when his ex-wife (Cruz) enters the picture.
Allen tells this story in a highly narrative way, even using actual spoken narrative from an omniscient objective party. It's used to start to get us into the characters heads and sort of cleverly gives us expectations about what we are to see in addition to foreshadowing. It's a much more direct, yet still artsy way of telling a very Allen-like story involving love triangles and threesomes and such. While it may sound provocative, it makes actual sense as to why Allen chose for certain events to happen.
This is also a very artistic film. Allen has simply moved his love of New York City to another city overseas. The culture and the landscape play a very pivotal role in creating a mood for this film, some motivation for the characters to do things they wouldn't have before the film begins. It definitely leaves you longing for a carefree, overseas adventure.
Most importantly, this is some fine relationship drama. All the conversations are easy to follow and extremely easy to relate to. These aren't mind-altering ideas about love -- well, maybe with the exception of threesomes -- but they are provided a different, unique context that is the beautiful city of Barcelona. Welcome back, Woody, we missed you.