Vicky Cristina Barcelona
I switched off my analytical mind while watching Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and enjoyed every moment of it.
The movie became a total sensory experience, the charming locations, the hauntingly beautiful melody of the Spanish guitars, the magnetic calmness of Juan Antonio, the longing expression on Vicky's face, the fiery chaotic Marie Elena, the flirtatious & spontaneous Cristina...etc. There's even a tinge of existential humour to tickle my intrigue:
Cristina: [Looking at a sculpture of Jesus] Are you very religious?
Juan Antonio: No, no, no, no, I'm not. The trick is to enjoy life, accepting it has no meaning whatsoever.
Cristina: No meaning? You don't think that authentic love gives life meaning?
Juan Antonio: Yes, but love is so transient. Isn't it? I was in love with a most incredible woman... and then in the end...
Vicky: Yes?
Juan Antonio: She put a knife into me.
Cristina: My God, that's terrible!
Vicky: Well, maybe you did something to deserve it.
All in all, watching this movie was like savoring a scrumptious meal, all my taste buds were satisfied.
I can tell that without some of my life experiences in the past, I wouldn't have related to the subject and enjoyed it. What's more amusing, is that for the most part of my life, I have played the role of those "clueless guys" in the movie (eg. Doug and the guy Cristina's hosts tried to set her up with on the sail boat), who were fulled of ideas and/or righteousness in their heads, but completely missed out (or intentionally ignored) those subtle expressions, emotions and desires in people as painted so vividly in the movie.
Oh mighty god, I repent for my oblivious ways.
5 comments:
Repent again for you have enjoyed a movie I loved! And interestingly, I'd say the same: it drew prior experiences out. This is the same movie that Anne reported back on when we were at Espresso Workshop: everyone at that party apparently didn't like the movie. Perhaps the lack of the necessary experiences; perhaps a narrow concept of how "love movies" are meant to be (I detected that when I spoke to one of them).
One of my Russian students is a great fan of Woody Allen and exclaimed to me that his movies show such a rich grasp of life and love, even at his age.
Your relationship with someone certainly have a lot of resemblances to that of Juan Antonio & Marie Elena. Is this what you're mostly referring to when you say it drew out past experiences?
Ye I know you guys talked about this movie at Espresso Workshop, and I promised I wouldn't like it. But since I'm changing all the time, my promise was as transient as anything else in life.
As to why many people don't like it, what comes to mind is a story a Dutch guy told me in India.
In Dharamsala, he had 2 Indian construction workers working for him on expanding the meditation center he worked at. He described the life of these 2 guys: when they have free time, they sit by the chai shop, looking at the mountains, drink chai and chat. That's pretty much what their life is, simple and enjoyable.
For work reasons he once took them to Delhi, and treated them some western-style cinnamon tea that cost like $3~4 USD (which was many times more expensive than chai. He didn't tell them the price though). They did not like it at all, and they did not like the city one bit. All they wanted was to go back to the mountains.
For some people, the scenario in the movie to them is like Delhi is to those 2 Indian guys - messy and complicated. It's very normal for them to not like it.
And of course there are many more angles from which people can like or dislike the movie. But the above is probably one of the major ones.
I can't say I remember the exact points that chimed well with my experiences but states that are perfect imperfection and chaos and imperfect visions of perfection may have been part of it.
Another movie I saw around the same time, Prague, also resonated with my recent experiences. Movies that tap the messiness and unpredictability of real life are what I like.
I like this movie too. I saw it on the plane coming back to New Zealand last year. Movies not only tape into the life when you see them, but also can bring the life when you saw them, when you see them or heard other people talk about it later. That makes movie timeless.
A rare consensus we have here~
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