3+ Movies

I caught Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona on its release on Aug 15th. Allen has moved from Venice to London and is now in Barcelona. The movie is a fantastic job of stereotypes: 3-some proposing Catalan painter; free-spirited American discovering her talent; uptight, scholarly American who marries a Wall Street type; etc. The twist is that each has Woody-esque moments, stammering and rationalizing. Penelope Cruz breaks into the plot midway and holds the movie in an unstable, quirky equilibrium. Forget the reviews, just go, enjoy. Woody Allen reveals himself to be a hippie.


Also, somewhat late to the theaters after the film festival last year, A Girl Cut in Two. This IS a movie of stereotypes: older writer with a dark side conquers a young girl who seeks him for his "experience" and who is loved by a young, rich man who is petulant and jealous, etc. I am sure in some way that only the French can concoct and justify, this is a movie about something in the context of the history of French cinema, or Chabrol or whatever. This movie is saved by Ludivine Sagnier, who can save any movie by simply walking towards the camera, or walking away, or simply being.

Finally, there is the somewhat old movie: Beijing Bicycle. Bicycles may have a unique role in China, but this chinese movie falls short of what I imagine is its goal to remake the Italian classic: Ladri di biciclette (1948), where a man has his bicyle stolen, threatening his means of earning a living and everything else in his world. One should be born into this world as a baby, crying, but clutching a DVD of this Italian masterpiece. Forget the Beijing version.