Comments on: Vicky Cristina Barcelona

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:42:24 +0000

Your welcome. It’s a classic indeed.

By: darkcitydame4e...

darkcitydame4e... — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:40:40 +0000

Hi! Rick, I have not watched director Woody Allen’s film “Vicky, Cristina and Barcelona yet!…but after reading so many “mix” reviews of Woody’s film VCB…hmmm…maybe, I can still watch this film with an “open” mind!…Btw, Thank~you! for the artist link…What artist?…Paul Schrader, his essay on film noir is now a considered a “classic” must read and I would think not only by people who(m) consider themselves “film noir fanatics.”

Thanks,
dcd

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:00:43 +0000

Evan, I’m not sure Woody’s movies are any more personal than a variety of others … it seems to me the Fellini and Truffaut and Bergman, say, made at least as personal films as Allen.

I think the reason people go Woody-hunting is that until fairly recently, he was in each of his films, in person, and he always had the same nervous, neurotic, self-analytical personality. So when Woody isn’t acting in one of his films, people to look for that character, and many times, it’s genuinely there.

I suppose it would be more accurate to say that Hall and Johannson are “Woody character surrogates,” more than carriers for his ideas. In a few of the scenes, you could have thought it was the Woody persona in drag.

As you say, it is accurate to say the Woody’s interested in the neuroses associated with love, and that naturally it pervades his film.

In my initial response to Pam and Craig, I conflated the two arguments (as perhaps Pam did as well) by going on about artists making films about themselves.

By: Evan Derrick

Evan Derrick — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:00:19 +0000

I wonder if looking for the Woody character in each film that comes out doesn’t end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because Woody injected himself to clearly into his early work, so that (more so than any other filmmaker) he as a person is inextricably entwined with his films, everyone always seems to be looking for which character is Woody. Which means, it seems to me, that you’ll always find him, whether or not he’s really there to be found.

You could do this with any film, and it would be as equally self-fulfilling. “Will Smith is the Michael Bay character in Bad Boys, although Lawrence has hints of him, whereas Ben Affleck is the Bay character in Pearl Harbor, and Megan Fox, surprisingly, is the Bay surrogate in Transformers.” I realize I’m stretching with that analogy, but saying that Hall, Johannson, Bardem, and Cruz are all “Woody characters” seems a tad on the ridiculous side.

Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that Woody Allen is interested in the neurosis associated with love, and that this film has, as many of his films do, that quality? It just seems silly to go fishing for which character represents Woody the most each time one of his films come out.

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:58:23 +0000

Yeah, Sam, Vicky Cristina seems to have people blowing hot and cold. And although it's not a revelatory statement about Jules and Jim, it certainly bears repeating.

By: Sam Juliano

Sam Juliano — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:29:42 +0000

I am not a big fan of VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, but I generally love the Woodman and think JULES AND JIM one of the groundbreaking 60’s masterworks. But that’s hardly a revelatory statement.

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:27:41 +0000

Craig, in VCB, the triangle is stable, and it’s the leaving of Cristina that destroys it …

In “Jules and Jim,” on the surface at least, the presence of Catherine is destabilizing, especially given the ending …

hmmmm, methinks a rewatching of J&J is indeed in order.

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:03:33 +0000

Just watched VCB again. Liked it even more.

I should probably revisit Jules and Jim now. I particularly want to pay attention to the narration.

And I agree that Vicky and Cristina are most clearly Woody’s surrogates.

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 03:47:39 +0000

I love Jules and Jim. It's the film that introduced me to the New Wave in general and Truffaut in particular. I think that Woody might have watched it not all that long before he conceived of Vicky Cristina

By: Pat

Pat — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:11:36 +0000

There always seems to be one character in every one of his films who represents Woody when he himself isn’t in the film.

It hadn’t occurred to met that both Hall and Johansson were Woody this time, but I think you’re very perceptive in catching that.

I think I am going to have to back and rewatch “Jules and Jim,” which I have not seen for years. You’re the second reviewer I’ve read who has compared the narration in Vicky Christina Barcelona to that in the Truffaut film.