February 18th, 2009
By Eddy
I initially wanted to see the Vicky Christina Barcelona (“VCB” for short ) for Scarlett Johansson, but left with only Penelope Cruz on the mind. I never really though Cruz was that beautiful but this movie definitely changed my opinion of her. I directly contribute this change to her character, an artistic, passionate borderline insane Spanish woman. She harnessed all the crazy hot girlfriend vibes that resonates with every straight man and puts it on the screen, and it was definitely a sight to see. I would have to say it upped her sexiness level at least 10 times especially when she starts screaming and ranting in Spanish.. My boss, who saw the movie on our flight to Brazil said she was the first thing that stuck in his mind regarding the film.
I haven’t seen that many Woody Allen movies but the ones that I have seen have always been difficult to describe plot wise. I find the best way to tell someone about it is to talk about the themes that Allen really concentrates on. VCB is above love…the finding of the “one”, losing and falling in love and everything in between. While many movies deal with this subject, Allen approaches it on a different level, show the many forms that love that can take and how it was different from a European and American perspective. Relationships were seen from both sides depicting Europeans as more open and free but at times for fragile and vulnerable than Americans. While Americans were stubborn and traditional with love, staying with relationships rather than truly seeing what is happening in front of them.
What struck me, was how Allen believed that Americans would stay in a relationship even if they were no longer in love with the person, obligations other than the heart such as comfort and stability kept people together and that Americans in these loveless relationships remained miserable through out their life, a slave to their lack of passion and emotions. I was forced to look at my own marriage and see where it fit amongst the dysfunctional relationships displayed in the movie, was I falling out of love with my wife (of course not) is she falling out of love with me ( I hope not) could it happen in the future, was the passion still there? It lead to more thinking than I expected from the movie (especially since I was just watching to oogle at the hot girls and the possibilities of seeing the famous threesome that spread through the internet before the movie came out…SPOILER ALERT: you don’t see any threesome or much of anything other than people baring their emotional soul. Yeah that kinda sucked).
In the end, like most Woody Allen movies, everything doesn’t tie into a nice little bow and things are left still up in the air and unresolved, kind of like life. After the movie, I was left unchanged. There was no major revelation in my life, but it was nice to reaffirm my feelings for my wife in the way most people do through comparison, and while the I was comparing my life to those of fictional people it didn’t really matter. Ultimately there isn’t anyone that is a better match for me…yes, as much as I don’t like to let Divina know she is right, she is my soul mate. Now if the possibility for a threesome with either Penelope Cruz or Scarlett came up I am certainly willing to re-evaluate the relationship (Ha Ha…honey, I love you, I would never do that you are the only one for me…seriously!)
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