First up you should know that this type of life-observation film isn’t normally my cup of tea. Nor is Woody Allen who directed it exactly high on my must-see list. Give me a Casino Royale, Gladiator or Lord Of The Rings epic and I’m in my element, but since my g/f is into chick-flicks and Woody Allen, this was her call. And I was very pleasantly surprised. OK, so I like epics, but I do tend to go into most films with an open mind and as little info as possible so as to enjoy the surprise.
I’m fairly easy to please – although not so easy that “You, Me & Dupree” kept me in the cinema past the half-way point. Truly awful. VCB is a slow-moving film as is typical of the genre, but the characters are interesting enough to keep your attention and I found myself becoming more interested as the film went on.
Scarlet Johanssen and Penelope Cruz maybe beautiful, but not “my type” quite honestly, although the relative newcomer Rebecca Hall was much more eye-catching.
But aesthetics aside, the stort Woody Allen has come up with is really very inteersting and well delivered. What’s it about? Well I won’t go into long drawn out analysis, but essentially it explores the fact that love isn’t a simple emotion, that there are always complications, ghoss in the closet, unavoidable dilemmas and confusion. That’s all you really need to know to be honest, but then we most of us know that already. It’s the substance and twists on that concept that make this film good.
It is a slow-paced film for sure, but not boring by any stretch. As other reviewers have pointed out quite rightly, the film gets a lift on the injection of Penelope Cruz as the ex-partner of the main male lead about half way through and at this point the characters really came to life. Having been to Barcelona a couple of times, some familiar sights added to the mix, although the filming takes you to some great spots you’d never see on a tourist trek. It was a very suitable backdrop to the story.
Would I watch it again? Maybe one day if it was on TV on a rainy Sunday, but I wouldn’t go out of my way. If you like a relaxing film which is intriguing and a bit different, I’d recommend it. You’d never know it was a Woody Allen film unless you were a fan, and the film was just the right length too. In this day and age of over-long drawn-out plots, that’s a plus, not because the film was boring but just because it did what it needed to and then said goodbye! Overall…enjoyable.