The surprise of Woody Allen's 39th film

In the old days, everyone would beg me to take them to an early screening of a Woody Allen film. As the '90s wore on, some of the hard-core fans began to move on. Soon the waiting list got shorter ... and shorter ... and ... finally, even my wife stopped going with me. So when I went to see "Vicki Cristina Barcelona" the other night, I went alone. In fact, I almost didn't go at all.

I don't know about you, but these days, when people talk about Woody Allen, the conversation essentially revolves around the question -- when did you give up on him? Did you give up after 1994's "Bullets Over Broadway," which had a great Dianne Wiest turn as a neurotic diva? Or did you stick it out until 1999's "Sweet and Lowdown," which featured Sean Penn as a brilliant jazz guitarist who was a rotten human being? Or did you finally get off the train with 2005's "Match Point," the murder mystery that earned Allen his last Oscar screenplay nomination? (When DreamWorks had an early "Match Point" screening for The Times, the response was so tepid that no one even stayed to sample a lavish spread of food. When journalists skip a free meal, that's always a bad sign.)

I've been off the Allen bandwagon for nearly a decade, having been disappointed too many times. It felt as if his best days were behind him. He seemed to make movies out of habit, not out of inspiration, locked into a filmmaking style -- and comic sensibility -- that came from another era. There are filmmakers who've done great work into their 70s (Robert Altman and John Huston instantly come to mind), but once filmmakers of a certain age go into decline, the decline is irreversible.

But here's the good news. "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," due out Aug. 15 from MGM and the Weinstein Co., is a delight. Call it a throwback or call it a comeback, it's Allen's best movie in years. But that's not the only surprise about it:   

The movie's story is simple enough. Young American friends Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) travel to Barcelona for the summer. Vicky is engaged, with her whole life already seemingly planned out. Cristina is a free thinker, impulsive, romantic and always vaguely dissatisfied by her relationships. Then they meet Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a charming, seductive painter who whisks them away for a weekend, promising them romance and fine wine, even though he's still clearly in the thrall of the wildly high-strung Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz), the great love of his life who vamoosed after stabbing him in a jealous rage.

The film grows far more complicated as it goes along, but complicated in the way of classic farce, not tedious storytelling. What makes it such a surprise is that it shows Allen exploring a new form: It's a bedroom farce, but performed slow and smooth, like a Ben Webster sax solo, without the hell-bent rush of a "Noises Off"-style door-slamming comedy. In an era in which comedy is such a blunt instrument, it's a kick to see a comedy that's actually a cozy meditation on the unpredictability of love, with the passion lurking just under the surface, erupting when we least expect it. Allen even tells much of the story via a dispassionate narrator, who shares information with us, the audience, on a need-to-know basis.

The movie is full of good acting, especially from Bardem and Cruz, who are pretty irresistible every moment they're on screen. But the real surprise performance comes from Rebecca Hall, who starts out as the obligatory Allen stand-in character, jittery and full of nervous tics, but takes the part in an entirely unexpected direction, not only showing an emotional vulnerability but also nicely capturing the wobbly uncertainty of a woman startled by how thoroughly she succumbs to a passion she has so doggedly resisted.

So mark your calendars. It will soon be time to give a Woody Allen movie another try, a movie that, compared with all the summer fast-food high jinks, feels like a sumptuous meal.

Photo of Rebecca Hall and Woody Allen by Francois Guillot / AFP/Getty Images.

Comments

[Rifkin]

Glad you liked it. Just one correction; the movie opens wide August 15. TWC has a lot of hopes in this film and I suspect it'll be Woody's biggest box office hit.

[rob harris]

love Rebecca Hall. anxious to see the movie just for her.

[kunino]

I gave up on Woody Allen while watching on first release his supposedly merry comedy set in Venice in which he wrote and played the part of an old pervert who tapped a psychiatrist's office so he could find the vulnerabkle points in a pretty young woman's psyche, and seduce her. The idea was disgusting, and I felt the pretty woman, Julia Roberts, was being exploited.

I've forgotten the name of this crime, and I'm happy to have done so.

[Jerry Colvin]

It seems like with every single Woody movie over the past 15 years, we always get one or more review saying something like "I know it's been many years since his last good one, but this one really is good!" His most recent, last winter's Cassandra's Dream, didn't even play in my area... the first time that has ever happened. I just hope I have a chance to see this one in a theater.

[katheryn]

Guess again; Mr. Allen hasn't come back at all; in fact, he is only revisiting the genre of bedroom farce that he explored so finely a couple of decades ago in "Smiles of a Summer Night," one of his homages to Ingemar Bergman.
As for me, I gave up on his films after his dispicable behavior with Mia Farrow and her children.

[Pecos 45]

I gave up on Woody Allen when he became a dirty old man and married his adopted daughter.
That is still just sick.
"Hey, I used to bathe you when you were a baby, so why don't you marry me?"
YUCK

[Bryan]

I never gave up on woody.
and have all of his works on dvd ( they have to be written and Directed by him) except, the Nixon parody for P.B.S. in the early 70's ; which I would like to see
and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" .
As for his personal life , I see people like a pie we take slices we want and leave the rest.
As for his cinema Mr. Allen said recently that feels that his job is to make movies and that is his work and he feels the need to work. As a viewer it is pretty clear that he makes his films for himself and we should be happy just to see them.

[John]

Woody Allen has the greatest job in the world, the opportunity to write and direct and maintain total creative control of one film per year. Sure, at this pace, there will be hits and flops, but what a legacy spanning some 33 years now. His films will last because they are timeless, and those that were not understood at the time will find new meaning in future years. I have no great expectations for the next film, but I know this: there is a point of view in each of them, and oftentimes they take more than one viewing to understand the point. Let's get one thing straight: Woody did not marry his adopted daughter! He married the adopted daughter of his girlfriend. The worst you could say is that his wife is a step-sister to his children (natural and adopted). That's his business. He deserves to be remmebered for his work, not his personal life which has nothing to do with anyone else but him and his family. HIs work speaks for itself and will be around for a very long time. I hope the next film is great, but I won't be overly disappointed if it isn't - I prefer to think that his best work is yet to come, not the other way around. Woody has lived his life on his own terms, more than most of us can say about ourselves. For that, he is to be congratulated. And he plays a great crude jazz clarinet by the way...

[John Blowitz]

I, too, pretty much forgot about Woody Allen after his homage to Bergman phase. But I came back with "Match Point," also an homage but this time to Hitchcock that really worked. Talk about a McGuffin? See it again, you'll be surprised.

[Nick]

Woody Allen is a genius- unfortunately one that has not had a totally great film since "Bullets Over Broadway." " Mighty Aphrodite" and "Deconstructing Harry" were good fillms, but too uneven to call "great." Then the rain of stinkers began and it was like a flood. "Match Point" was a re-written version of a part of "Crimes and Misdemeanors"- he even had the some of the same scenes and he couldn't be bothered to write a different ending- but no one wants to admit that. Mia Farrow was a brilliant muse for Woody- Soon-Yi is a horrible one, but hey! He's now the happiest he has ever been and that is what counts, right? I guess, but his happiness has come with a terrible price- some truly awful movies. And it's true, no one will believe this is a good movie because every year the critics say the same thing- "his best in years!" "He's back in top form!" and it's usually atrocious. You can only cry "wolf!" so many times.

[david blackman]

This is a brilliant film, his best in decades. But why the comment about Match Point? That was wonderful. And Bullets over Broadway is one of my all time favorite films. I disagree that people are walking away from his films. I have gone to each and every one, some good, some great, some not so great, some poor. But i never give up on his genius. There is no one as good as Woody Allen

[LA / Michael]

For those of you who can not set aside your personal feelings for Mr. Allen, your therapist maybe steering you into a life full of denial. The audience I attended was engaging this film with open laughter and clapping throughout. I found it refreshing and indeed memorable. The message here is to enjoy your short little life.......