Vicky Cristina Barcelona

In his old age, Woody Allen somehow caught a new artistic vibe and can surprise with at least every other film he churns out at a machine gun pace. After his film Match Point, this is the second film I've seen in a short time where I had a hard time finding his typical style. For a long time, essentially for the entire first half of the film, I couldn't immerse myself in it, but with every passing minute, this Boccaccio-esque tangle of relationships and love passions got to me more and more. Unlike his older comedies, Allen reduced his typical dialogue banter, omitted the character of a neurotic intellectual, and focused on a group of people who have problems with their emotions and long for something that is currently out of their reach. The infidelities, seductions, rejections, and sufferings are presented convincingly and have charm, especially when they form a remarkable polygon. It may not be the pinnacle of Allen's work, but Vicky Cristina Barcelona definitely belongs to the better things he has created. Overall impression: 80%. (24/05/2010)

Allen is still in top form, writing great scripts like a treadmill and breathing such charm into them as no one else could. Though it's true that here the central female trio contributes a lot to the charm, with one actress being more attractive (and better) than the other – and I was downright envious of Javier Bardem's role. It's not a romantic gem and it gets a bit lost in the flood of Allen's films, but it's still a more than pleasant summer diversion spiced up with excellent actors and the traditionally playful direction of one of the most legendary filmmakers of our time. Besides, there's something really magical about Barcelona, and it's not the Nou Camp...:-) 80% (03/04/2013)

Woody Allen has woven yet another web of relationships in which he has once again trapped a respectable series of sympathetic actors and actresses. Again, it's a very fine viewing experience, aided this time by the (by Allen's standards) exotic setting. From the beginning, Vicky Cristina Barcelona has a very strange momentum that is perhaps not even momentum. The story rather just goes along through sunny Spain, waiting, waiting, waiting... Before the director and screenwriter mixes the character of the excellent Penélope Cruz into the plot and a peaceful scenic drive through the countryside becomes a true rally thanks to her temperament. I give four and a bit mainly for her. (06/08/2014)

A living classic set off to warm his bones under the Catalonian sun to make his old-man’s wet dream come true. And because he’s no jerk, he eagerly shares full screen footage of Scarlett’s nipples (*glurp*), Penelope’s butt (yum!), Rebecca’s thighs and Bardem’s five o’clock shadow (wowie) with the public... Oh but, no, no, that neurotic miser only shares the thighs and the five o’clock shadow. But really, in places it’s so hot that, despite it being the beginning of a damp and drizzly fall, I recommend you wear summer clothes when you watch this. This applies mainly for those who can boast chromosome Y in their genetic makeup. And how Bardem organizes his household is priceless. But it wouldn’t be a Woody Allen movie of past years without one big “but". A kind of nothing intro. It’s just too sleepy summer like. It requires María Elena to plunge in and save the movie. Personally I was also upset that the two best characters (Juan’s father and María Elena) are criminally kept in the background. Overall, no miracle to be penned into the master’s filmography in gold lettering, but excellent as relaxing summer entertainment. (22/10/2008)

Only unfulfilled love can be romantic. During the trailer, I anxiously anticipated, at the first reviews unexpectedly attaching the film with the stamp of the funniest movie of the year, he blinked surprised and didn't even breathe during the film. And he cursed the reviews. This comedy is not it, and from my point of view, it doesn't come anywhere close to it. Not that the humor is completely missing, but in several places, I couldn't shake off the feeling that I was watching Match Point for the second time - this time written with a much more positive mood. Woody's experimenting should never (if possible) end. Thanks to Spain, everything is intimately familiar and yet brilliantly new. When the uncompromising artist Bardem steps up to the table, a hint of the coming symbolism of partnership can be sensed, but it was only when the fascinating intimacy began to unfold that I realized what a unique work I had come across. Because I didn't see pure romance anymore, Woody probably has his ultra-happy endings definitively behind him. And at the same time, I didn't see a hint of cynicism, just the suppression of idealism and the inevitable acquisition of a certain perspective. Thanks to this, Vicky is enjoyed the most by those romantics who have already been burned. Those sweetly hopeful should rather wait a few more years alongside Hana and her sisters. (31/12/2008)