Review of Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) by Hari A — 21 Aug 2012

Woody Allen has a knack of creating beautiful tales based on magnificent cities. This one is a poetic rendition of a free thinking romantic comedy that is accompanied by some absolutely wonderful performances by everyone involved. As the name suggests, this one is based in Barcelona and a small Spanish town Oviedo. Rational thinker Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and free thinker Christina (Scarlett Johansson) go to Barcelona on a vacation, where they meet Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), and fall for him. This incepts a web of romance between Juan, Christina and Vicky, when Juan's ex wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) enters, inducing chaos into the whole relationship.

The movie focuses on a topic that might not be very appealing in real life, but Woody Allen's writing and directing skills create magic here. Fantastic performance by Penelope Cruz as the delusional Maria Elena takes the top spot. The movie ends in a thats-how-life-is fashion, which is typical of his movies. What I missed however was Woody Allen's narration. Not that the narration was bad, but Woody's voice would have been icing on the cake.