Music has the miraculous touch of enlivening any moment or defining a character properly. The movie entitled Vicky Cristina Barcelona directed by Woody Allen incorporates such music which will draw one to the streets of Spain. This movie features Javier Bordem as Juan Antonio Gonzalo, who is a painter. Penelope Cruz as his ex-wife. Scarlett Johansson as Cristina and Rebecca Hall as Vicky, two American tourists. This movie portrays the various doubts and uncertainty that arises in our minds and illustrates its reaction in our lives. This movie is also rich in music and art, which embellishes this movie in a sumptuous manner. This movie won award in Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy as mentioned in the List of Golden Globe Nominees and Winners. In this movie, various paintings have been used by the Catalan artist Agusti Puig. These paintings when observed intricately empathizes the feelings and the nature of the events taking place.
Two American travellers Vicky and Christina meet an artist Juan Antonio Gonzalo who invites them to stay with him to enjoy food, art and sex with him. They reach Barcelona accepting his irresistible offer. Vicky being the practical one shows disinterest first but later succumb to his charms. Cristina on the other hand believes herself to be spontaneous and accepts his offer. This movie follows their journey to the road of love and wants. In their ride of life, soon Juan’s ex-wife, Maria Ellen joins and provides a new angle to the story.
This movie written and directed by Woody Allen received awards and earned the most monetary profit among his movies. The music of this movie was composed by many remarkable persona like Giulia Tellarini, Maik Alemany, Alejandro Mazzoni, Jens Neumaier, Paco de Lucia, etc. The strokes of guitars produces such a jovial tune which will transport you to the streets of Barcelona. The casual way of singing and the composed music illustrates the movie in far better light. Especially Barcelona, Entre dos Aguas, El noi de la Mare, etc. are some pieces of music which refreshes the essence of Spain in heart and mind. The paintings used also increases the quality content of this movie. This adds a rich artistic angle to the movie and also binds the fickleness and creativity of mind together in a canvas, which is an impressive work.
Woody Allen is a director who displays the complexities of life and love in a simpler way with a touch of humour in it which ensures that all the viewers are thoroughly delighted. His other movies like Midnight in Paris and Hannah and her Sisters also contains the factor of tangled love but wrapped in dry humour. His movies are thus fascinating and also his usage of various art forms and their narration throughout the movie unveils an artistic side of the movie. The casted actors have played their part very well and this is a reason behind the deep impact this movie leaves. As in Midnight in Paris, he has beautifully shown the culture of art and literature in various centuries, in this movie also he has used Agusti Puig’s work, which reflects the rich heritage of Barcelona art. In the field of music, it can be said that the music was created by keeping the characters in mind. The casual temperament of the music represents the characters very well and the jolly Spanish tunes carries the air of Barcelona. These perspective of art and music creates the aura of the movie.
This is a nice movie where a regular event of search for love is interpreted and shown in a different but impressive way. Small differences between Spanish and American culture can also be viewed. Our mind which has different layers of depths and accordingly the variation in thought can be observed here. Every character acts in their own weird way. But all these chaos makes the movie more delightful. Also the rich touch of music and art makes the movie impeccable. Overall, it can be said that all the elements of the movie create an effect not to be easily forgotten.
Works Cited
Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Dir. Woody Allen. Perf. Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall. Mediapro, 2008. DVD.
“List of Golden Globe Nominees and Winners.” The New York Times 8 Jan. 2009. Web. 1 July 2015.
“Agusti Puig-Human Traces-Gallery DeNovo Exhibition Information.” Gallerydenovo.com. Web. 1 July 2015.
