I do believe this review will be less a review of the movie and more thoughts on the themes within the movie. It might come off as a frustrated rant. I apologize in advance if that is what happens.
Vicki (Rebecca Hall) and Christina (Scarlett Johansson) are best friends who have been invited to spend the summer in Spain. Vicki is grounded In reality and is engaged to the perfect man. Christina is a girl who goes where the world takes her and is still looking for her place. She prefers adventure and falls in and out of love weekly. One night the two girls meet a mysteriously sexy man, Juan Antonia (Javier Bardem), who is a painter and all around lover. He propositions the two ladies to fly away with him for the weekend where they will see the sights and make love with each other. Christina wants it, but Vicki doesn't. Christina wins and they go with Juan Antonio. Christina gets sick while there and Vicki and Juan spend the rest of the weekend together. They have sex, but never speak of it again. When they get back to Spain, Christina and Juan become involved in a torrid love affair, Christina moves in, but Juan Antonio's ex-wife (Penelope Cruz) enters the picture. Instead of causing issues, Chrstina, Juan and his ex enter in a weird threesome relationship. Meanwhile, Vicki's husband flies to Spain so they can be married there.
Implementing a narrator who is not part of the story is an interesting idea. Woody Allen uses the narrator as a way of making it so the characters do not have to do any expository dialogue. It frees them up to be specifically in the moment of the film. It is a littler weird at times and sometimes I wish I had less of the narrator, but I like how it allows the characters to avoid the exposition. The acting is all top notch, even from Penelope Cruz, whom I usually loathe. I still am not sure why everyone thinks she is super hot, but her body is smoking and while I usually find smoking gross, she looks sexy as hell with a cigarette. Scarlett Johansson is very good in a role pretty far removed from the roles she usually plays. Rebecca Hall does a fine job although this is the character/theme I have the most issues with.
This movie is about love. The first half plays like a romantic comedy and the last half plays like a weird romantic drama. Vicki spends the whole movie wanting to relive her moment with Juan Antonio and Christina spends the movie trying to find her place and find the kind of love she wants/needs. The Dialog is full of lines like "Only unfulfilled love can be romantic." It portrays Spain as a sensual and romantic country full of poets and sexy guitar players. The problem I have with it, is how it perpetrates this Hollywood ideal that the right man can't be the man desired. Vicki has a perfect man at home. He loves her, he has a steady job and he is attentive. He wants to give Vicki the world and he is good looking and funny to boot. But, nooooo this is Hollywood and so every girl has to want the exotic guy who sleeps around. He is of the world and has very romantic opinions about love, so he must be the one every female wants. Why is it so hard to believe that the right man can also be the one who is full of life? Why, in movies and books, must girls go after the guy who doesn't exactly treat the women properly. It is found out Juan Antonio and his ex tried to kill each other. That is bad right? Nope, in a movie it just shows the passion and that kind passion is what makes life worth living, right?
Movies like this are aggravating because it is very well made, but was hard for me to care because I was so annoyed at this idea that romantic love can only come from something unknown, exotic or wild. It falls into the trap that wanting a "normal" life is somehow bad because it lacks mystery. Nobody in the movie suffers consequences for their actions, really. Yes, it is a movie and movies are for fantasy, but where is the movie that shows wanting a house and a career is a good thing? The guys like that in all of these movies always lose out to the guy who treats the women badly and is distant. It is somehow impossible for the right guy, the nice guy to also be romantic. Oh well, I guess that is what movies are for.
Final Grade: C+
No comments:
Post a Comment