Vicky Cristina Barcelona

My first exposure to Woody Allen's directing, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, left me wanting more. Since I'm not familiar with Allen's work I can't make any comparisons/contrasts (that's up to you guys-Ian and Char), but I will touch on some things that stood out to me and could possibly be recurring in some of his other films...

First off, the story itself is quite quirky. The main characters are Vicky and Cristina, best friends who really couldn't be any more different, except that they've both fallen for a steamy man named Juan Antonio in Barcelona. There isn't really anything unique about this set-up of characters, however, Allen chooses to throw in an anal-retentive fiance (also not too out of the ordinary), and Juan Antonio's psycho ex-wife, who manages to put a remarkably odd and mildly uncomfortable twist on things. Going into this film I expected the typical love triangle between two best friends and a foreigner, but the actual result was somewhat of a love pentagon (The Dentist?!). I am completely fine with Cristina and Juan Antonio's relationship, but when Maria Elena comes into the picture, not just as a roommate but as a lover to both, I can't help but cringe just a bit. Allen took a relatively normal relationship and threw in a curveball, resulting in a really distorted view of what a successful relationship looks like. The "threesome" really threw me off during this film. Looking back on it I find myself wondering what the point is of these weird relationships, especially the importance of Maria Elena's character. I may be completely wrong in my assumption, but a potential recurring idea in Allen's films may revolve around absurd and out of the ordinary relationships and how those affect the overall story. I guess we will just have to wait and see. My last comment on the narrative of this film has to do with the ending. To put it simply: IT SUCKED! This film ended just how it should/could in real-life, but definitely not how the viewers want. No loose ends are tied and it's like we're back to square one. Hopefully that's not a typical characteristic of Allen's work. Overall though, I was very entertained by the rawness and deep development of each character. Everyone held their own and definitely enhanced the story in some way, shape, or form.

The narrative aspects of this film were well done, however the most prominent things in my mind were Allen's cinematic choices. (This next idea isn't REALLY cinematic style but I'm going to put in my two cents about it anyway). When I was watching this film, I felt kind of like I was reading/watching a book. Almost every scene was narrated (film noir?) and informed the audience what had just happened and what was going on before the actual scene on screen began. This was very important in this film because the scenes cut from one to the next directly, instead of smoothly transitioning from one to the other; therefore, the narration kept the viewers up to speed with what the characters were going through without having to visually show that. I hope this is a typical Woody Allen trademark because it kept the story moving along which allowed for nice breaks in the action to catch up with what was going on.
The narration is wonderful, however, the most significant cinematic technique in this film revolves around the camera work. (I'm sure there are really technical terms to describe what I'm about to say but I don't know them so I"ll do my best). The camera work in this film does one of the best jobs of putting the viewers in the movie with the characters. While watching this film it felt like we were intruding on private conversations and actions. Allen does this with a lot of close-ups and very natural movement between people-not perfectly smooth camera movements but also not shaky like a hand-held. There were definitely some conversations and sex scenes that were filmed so intrusively that it was awkward and somewhat embarrassing to witness because you felt like you were right next to them. This camerawork took this film to a new level. Since it felt like we were watching a documentary/home videos of sorts, the characters seemed completely real and organic; we commented as a group how awkward the characters seemed at points because of how real it was filmed. Maybe this was a one-time deal for Allen when it comes to cinematic style, but I sure hope not. I have never felt so involved and personally engaged in a movie in ages. I really hope this is a common thread throughout Allen's work.

Woody Allen definitely let us peer into quite the story with Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Although odd and somewhat uncomfortable at times, Allen's cinematic style, depth of character, and out of the ordinary plot twists in this film have left me very eager to see what else is a part of his collection.