Woody Allen’s latest is a pure relationship-fest, but the audience can’t help but be transfixed ( a little threatened?) by Bardem’s stare. A thoroughbred cast and crew makes a very watchable romantic tryst, but no classic
Two women and a city form the title of Woody Allen’s latest romantic comedy. A return to Allen’s relationship films, VBC is a “Manhattan” remade in the context of romantic three-somes. Of is it four-somes? It is a return to the romantic comedies set in an urban milieu where people are searching for intimacy in a place where the cards seemed stacked against them.
For better or for worse, Javier Bardem is the draw for this film. After his Oscar winning lead role in “No Country for Old Men” he and the director must have seen a match made in heaven. At first glance this doesn’t seem an obvious fit, a Coen Brothers psychopathic killer in a Woody Allen romantic comedy. But to those who saw Bardem in his Oscar nominated performance as a gay artist in “Before Night Falls” it is an obvious choice.
Bardems’ range was established before he was tapped by the master and Allen pulled a perfect role for him out of his library of romantic leads. In this film he is able to play the same questioning, searching figure as in “Night.” Even better, he is able to do it in the context of that most liberal of romantic climates, the Mediterranean, rather than the paranoid and dread-filled miasma of Castro’s anti-gay Cuban dictatorship.
Oscar nominated Penélope Cruz (“Volver”, 2006) is his ex-wife from the most tumultuous marriage imaginable, a marriage between two artists pushing the envelope in abstract oils. Although Bardem gets the most screen time, Cruz has the most demanding role. She is the suicide-prone hysterical romantic who wages a hopeless fight to keep her emotions in check. Bardem’s role is easier. As Juan the artist he is mostly the same character as in “Before Night Falls.” Although he starts out in the lead position, Cruz slowly takes over as her character, Maria, emerges as the inspiration behind his work. More than just the inspiration, she turns out to have been his mentor and, in fact, the source of his style as well as his inspiration.
Golden Globes winner Scarlett Johansson (“Lost in Translation”, 2003) plays Christina, the more adventurous of the two women who fall in love with José. Through the course of the screenplay Vicki (Rebecca Hall) is forced to compete with Cristina and Maria. But as she has recently married a man who just doesn’t measure up, she must deal with her own devils as well as with two competing lovers. Allen makes the most of the ill-considered marriage to a young upwardly mobile American businessman (Chris Messina) who can’t see past the end of his balance sheet. Vicki channels Woody Allen is this film and provides humorous, and sometimes hilarious, social commentary in the context of day-to-day life.
Christina changes the most throughout the film. She starts out a loving and giving romantic but eventually comes to question if she is ready for the chaos of Juan’s love life. Allen’s screenplay reveals Juan’s personality slowly, peeling away layers that alternate between complete devotion and the childlike selfishness of a man who unknowingly take from those to whom he is closest.
Cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe has worked with Pedro Almodovar and Milos Foreman in racking up Spain’s national prize for Cinematography, as well six Goya awards. He has a great time in this film mirroring Allen’s edgy take on romantic entanglements. The photography is lush, with a certain busy-ness about it. The camera movements offer their own humor with overly rapid zooms and counter-rotating swivels. The camera itself becomes a character in the film, constantly moving to find the words or expression the characters search for. The camera always moves, even during close-ups.
Many people will see this film based on the combination of Woody Allen and Javier Bardem alone. Putting that aside, Bardem and Johansson are both simply outstanding. For anybody who was terrorized by him in "No Country" this is a must see (his "Before Night Falls” is a must-see as well). Between those three films he has established himself as one of the best in the business. Johansson was great, again, but probably will not get nominated for the Oscar, again, because she didn't get enough lines.
Cruz probably can not hope to get another part as great as in "Volver.” Her role in this film is fluffy, she isn't challenged by playing a stereotypical prima donna and could not get much beyond that. In spite of that, she, and the rest of the cast, produces a work of art that is eminently watchable Woody.
Directed and Written by: Woody Allen
Starring: Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson
Release: August 15, 2008
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