Voices en Español

The trailer for this eagerly-anticipated Woody Allen movie came out this week. For a flick that centers on a love triangle, -o mejor dicho a love rectangle-, the trailer makes the film seem rather flaccid.

Starring Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall, the movie is about two American girls (Johansson and Hall) who go on vacation in Barcelona where they meet a Spanish artist (Bardem) who tries to woo them both while juggling an on-again, off-again relationship with his ex-wife (Cruz).

The early buzz on the movie was that it would be quite saucy for a Woody Allen movie with a kiss between Cruz and Johansson and a threesome thrown in the mix. But Woody went public and essentially told the world to take a cold shower, stating the movie wasn’t going to be as steamy as the media was making it out to be. Poor Woody: There he goes sabotaging potential $$$box office€€€ of his own movie. Doesn’t he know by now that sex sells?

Whatever the case, a trailer is supposed to whet your appetite, so to speak, and make you want to run out and see the movie right away, not help you make a mental note to cross it off your list. Maybe it’s just me, but Javier Bardem seems miscast in the role of a modern-day Cassanova. He’s an intense actor but this role calls for him to be suave, laidback, charming and likable yet slightly devious. His trademark intensity has been dialed down and it seems like he’s trying to channel George Clooney.

Generally, a trailer presents its best moments, its best lines, etc., in 3 minutes or less. But from the Vicky Christina Barcelona trailer it’s hard to tell whether the movie is supposed to be a romantic comedy or a bittersweet dramedy. It also seems to be a movie of interiors and generic exteriors, with no images of streetscapes that connect the movie to Barcelona.

If that’s the case, that’s bad news for the Ayuntamiento of Barcelona since it picked up part of the tab for Woody’s Catalonian film-making adventure. News of this subsidy didn’t go down too well when it became public last year, particularly once it was reported to be the biggest investment of tax money in a single film in the history of Spanish cinema.

Obviously the public officials who signed off on this subsidy are hoping for a movie that elevates Barcelona’s international profile, making it a widely-recognized iconic city on film, like Paris or Rome. How disappointing then it will be if the movie turns out to be a flop and doesn’t deliver at least a few winning shots of la Sagrada Familia, las Ramblas, L’Eixample or Barri Gótic.

No matter what, life will go on for Woody. Although his mojo has weakened in the U.S., he’s still a powerhouse in Europe, where he’s universally adored and revered. He’s pretty much bullet-proof at this stage of his career and he’s already announced that he would love to make more films in Spain.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona opens in August.

P.S. What do you think of the trailer? Just for kicks, do you have a favorite Woody Allen movie? To tell the truth, I’m not a big fan of his work, although I did enjoy Match Point. Feel free to leave your thoughts below.