41 Responses for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona: #15 for Woody Allen?"

1. alynch January 7th, 2009 at 11:29 am 1

   Hmm, I’d been assuming that Allen was pretty much lock for a screenplay nod. The film is very well-liked. Although there is one small mistake in iggy’s analysis: Sweet & Lowdown received two acting nominations (Penn & Morton) without receiving a screenplay nomination.

2. Ryan Adams January 7th, 2009 at 11:37 am 2

   iggy wrote to me after the editing window-of-opportunity had closed, and pointed out that error, alynch.

   We left it alone, as comment bait

   One thing I wondered about during the film: when Penelope Cruz goes off on her wold tirades in Spanish, does the Spanish dialogue have a Woody-flavor too? Is it authentically Spanish in attitude?

   As a native of Madrid, iggy can answer that for us.

3. Alex Pizziolo January 7th, 2009 at 11:41 am 3

   I saw VCB yesterday and I loved!
   I hope the film get the two nods (Screenplay and Supporting Actress)!

4. The Natural January 7th, 2009 at 11:45 am 4

   The screenplay is really not deserving, especially with all the excellent original screenplays this year. Not to mention it can’t even come CLOSE to Woody’s other stuff. It’s quite average, and so is the film.

5. Ryan Adams January 7th, 2009 at 11:52 am 5

   Is it 18th for screenplay, Kris? I just quickly skimmed the IMDb charts, and didn’t double-check my count. I don’t have a team of assistants scurrying around to fact-find for me, like you do.
   

   [I counted again, and still come up with only 14 previous screenplay nominations. But I suck at math. And counting.
   List the other 17 for us?]

6. Edward L. January 7th, 2009 at 12:05 pm 6

   Woody has 14 Oscar nominations for his screenplays (to date) and 18 nominations so far from the WGA.

   Hope he adds to that with VCB!

7. Joao Mattos January 7th, 2009 at 12:08 pm 7

   I guess VCB is a lock for best screenplay, no doubt about it.

8. Pierre de Plume January 7th, 2009 at 12:16 pm 8

   I’m a VCB fan and feel that Allen’s screenplay is nomination-worthy.

   And I’d wager that, with Penelope and Javier on the set, the Spanish dialogue received proper care and feeding if indeed it was necessary.

9. Billyboy January 7th, 2009 at 12:18 pm 9

   Yes, hopefully today he scores his 19th WGA nod and I’m sure he is a lock for Original Screenplay… After all he is the most nominated writer ever. They love him.

   Which brings me to: Why isn’t he in the Contender Tracker?

10. Alex January 7th, 2009 at 12:19 pm 10

    I loved VCB. It wasn’t the best movie of the year, but the dialogue was so refreshing. At the end of the film, I was emotionally confused. It seems like a small ‘nothing’ film, but it truly resonated with me after I thought about it a bit more. I felt truly bad for all the characters.

    My NGNG hope is that Rebecca Hall will sneak in for Best Supporting Actress (I consider the role to be on the cusp of supporting and lead).

11. Ryan Adams January 7th, 2009 at 12:22 pm 11

    I get sleepy whenever I try to count past 8. It probably didn’t help that I poured myself a glass of wine while Javier was getting Scarlett sloshed in the scene above.

12. RichardA January 7th, 2009 at 12:24 pm 12

    And yet, WA is not listed in the Oscar daily tracker.

    I don’t know what’s the argument against it.

13. Edward L. January 7th, 2009 at 12:28 pm 13

    Alex: I felt similarly. The film seemed fun and well-made but a bit ’small’ when I was watching it – but since then it has lingered. I think it may be the ending, which (without giving anything away) seems to me to offer a gentle melancholy sigh at the predicaments of its protagonists, as if to say, Isn’t life hard? And the film’s lightness…isn’t that also the delicacy of human emotions?

    I’d better stop there – I’m starting to well up! Go Woody!

14. Jesus Alonso January 7th, 2009 at 12:39 pm 14

    VCB is a film I only saw yesterday, and frankly, buzz is right: an expensive ad of Asturias and Barcelona tourism department. Yes, Woody develops some issues about love but frankly it pales in comparison with even some of his earlier work… even the trashed “Scoop” felt more fresh to me, this is a Rohmer-wannabe. It’s an OK film but bore-inducing till Cruz appears and steals the show… I wouldn’t mind Cruz winning, at all, even if I have the feeling that some more deserving actress in a more difficult role is waiting for me to discover her – maybe Viola Davis, maybe Marisa Tomei, maybe Taraji P. Henson… so far Cruz is my pick, but VCB it ain’t on my top 5 Original Screenplays of the year… despite the supposed lack of originality, Cloverfield at least sets up some of the most entertaining and jaw-dropping sequences of 2008. Off the top of my head I can cite Wall-E, JCVD, Tropic Thunder, Timecrimes, as more deserving of an Original Screenplay nom.

15. Daniel S-R January 7th, 2009 at 12:52 pm 15

    If Alex’s point is that Rebecca Hall would have a chance at a Supporting Actress nod if Frost/Nixon had been released as the same film but with a director credit of Woody Allen, I have to say I sadly agree.

    If Cruz becomes the third person to win Best Supporting Actress in a Woody Allen film since the Soon-Yi scandal broke – which seems inevitable – I’ll just go out on a limb and say yeah, there’s something a little creepy about that. Would you let Woody Allen babysit your daughter? Oh you wouldn’t? Right, but it’s fun to watch him guide these beautiful women to supporting glory? I mean, I know we’re supposed to keep the art and the private life separate, but I can’t. I can’t see a Mel Gibson movie now. I can’t help but still be haunted by that line in Hard Candy when Ellen Page said “Didn’t they just give that pedophile [Roman Polanski] an Oscar?”

    I am well aware that I’m just whining, and I know there are some airtight arguments against me. And I loved Woody Allen for decades, and I can quote “Love and Death” (his neglected film between Sleeper and Annie Hall) like no one you know. But still: I’m a little creeped out. That’s all I’m saying.

16. Ivan January 7th, 2009 at 1:03 pm 16

    I love the sound mixing of the character´s names in VCB
    Maria Elena/Cristina/Juan Antonio/Vicky

17. harry January 7th, 2009 at 1:10 pm 17

    I won’t be disappointed if Woody gets recognition for the film. But I do think there are plenty of other screenwriters out there who haven’t won who would probably appreciate it more. I doubt Woody gives a crap anymore. He seems like he’s always been more interested in recognition from Europe anyway.

18. qwiggles January 7th, 2009 at 1:30 pm 18

    Daniel, that is a bizarre what-if: are you saying that her performance in Frost/Nixon would be considered as award worthy as her work (or Penelope’s work) in VCB had Allen directed it? That’s a big stretch: she barely has anything to do in F/N while she leads VCB, and that, not his penchant for younger women, is what makes Allen a serious boon to actresses who want to get parts that can be nominated.

    What does Woody Allen babysitting my daughter have to do with Woody Allen writing great parts for women?

19. iggy January 7th, 2009 at 1:39 pm 19

    @alynch.
    That’s true, I realized just a bit too late and I didn’t want to post a second comment correcting it, the first one was already a bit too long. I’d prefer to believe that Sweet & Lowdown is the exception which confirms the rule, ha.

    Ryan, you are just too generous .

    As a native of Madrid, it was a bit awkward hearing some Spanish in a Woody Allen movie at first. I’ve been seeing Allen’s movies ever since I became a regular moviegoer and never thought I would ever hear my native language in his movies (well, I never thought he would ever shoot a film outside NYC, either).

    I do believe the parts in Spanish keep that Woody’s flavor, that of Husbands and Wives and the like, those bitter but somehow comic (when well performed) remarks. And at the same time, they feel completely natural in Spanish, to the point that when I saw the movie I thought they were partially improvised. But no, they’re in the script. My kudos to Cruz (and Bardem) for making me believe they were. Her performance is just awesome. I’d add to her performance and Javier’s the additional difficulty of switching from one language to another. I know many people do this in their daily lives ( I do it myself sometimes), but not many actors when in character find the opportunity to do it.

    I’m really hoping the movie gets two nods for screenplay and Cruz, at least. I’d like to see some recognition for Hall as well, but it seems a bit difficult. I consider her to be the lead and with so many contenders in that category, a not showy part in a comedy leaves her out of the race, unfortunately.

    @Jesús Alonso.
    I guess you’re another native Spanish . I’ve reading that kind of criticism in the Spanish press ever since the movie was released. I’m sorry, I don’t share it.
    First, it’s no commercial for Asturias, lol. I’ve been there so many times, I could hardly find it even recognizable, except for the buildings. If there’s something typical of Oviedo is the grey light from the typical cloudy day, not the sunny one seen in the movie. Though I understand Allen wanted to show the most recognizable image of Spain abroad, the sun.

    But not to make it too long, I just don’t think that just because you show a few minutes of two tourists doing what tourists do, you’re making a commercial. First, I’ve always considered one of Allen’s trademarks is making the city just another character. In fact his portrayals of Manhattan in his previous movies have been traditionally praised by Spanish film reviewers. Why don’t they like it when it’s Barcelona? No idea, I didn’t read those criticisms when it was London in Match Point (and it was beatifully shot, too).

    And anyway, if after watching the movie one gets the idea that it was just an extended commercial, it’s that maybe one has remained as clueless as Vicky and Cristina after their summer in Barcelona.

20. Gentle Benj January 7th, 2009 at 1:44 pm 20

    I agree with qwiggles: the fact that supporting actresses in Allen films do so well at the Oscars has more to do with his writing than his directing. He writes great parts for women. Besides, Cruz’s eventual nomination (and Oscar) don’t really fit the nympho-ingenue mold. She’s older than Hall and Johansson, and hardly needs Allen to take her under his wing for the sake of her career. She was doing just fine before VCB.

21. XanderLJ January 7th, 2009 at 1:47 pm 21

    Daniel, you’re an idiot! Allen didn’t rape anyone (you can make the argument Polanski did) or sleep with an underage girl. It may still have been morally reprehensible, but you have to be a hopeless fool to dismiss one of the greatest filmmakers of all-time because he had a relationship that may have been inappropriate.

    Seriously, anytime there is proof that there are actually idiots out there who don’t want Woody (or even his actors) to be awarded because of an overblown scandal that happened a decade and a half ago, I think the world’s IQ has to be lowered at least two levels.

    And the HARD CANDY line is stupid, btw.

22. Daniel S-R January 7th, 2009 at 1:50 pm 22

    qwiggles: you’re right, and I’m wrong. If I were a famous talented actress, I would just feel a twinge of regret that one of the only ways to get a good role is to work for someone who had regular familial interactions with his now-wife before she hit puberty. Yes I realize my argument can’t hold up in court but I feel it anyway.

23. chatan January 7th, 2009 at 1:55 pm 23

    so it seems WA has to make every movie in diferent countries to get atention. With Match point (his first GB film) he got a comeback nomination. How would be a WA movie set in South America , Russia or Africa.

24. Mark January 7th, 2009 at 1:59 pm 24

    Daniel, dearest.
    You were actually wanting people to REACT.
    Your post was, how should I say this, ‘fish-bait’ for a barrage of reactionary posts from other AD readers.
    Why should this come as a surprise to you? Woody Allen is considered to be one of the great american filmmakers.
    My god, his films should be studied and analyzed frame by frame by film students.

25. Daniel S-R January 7th, 2009 at 2:03 pm 25

    XanderLJ: I’m 10 times the Woody Allen fan you are. 20 times. I can prove this in many ways. I know his pre-1997 films backwards and forwards. So for you to say ‘dismiss’ means, as they said in Doubt, that you mistake me. Hey I also like Lars Von Trier but I also wish he’d set foot on American soil before he spends more time criticizing Americans. Same sort of thing for me. Just a bit of a personal issue that, if I were an academy voter, might move my needle a bit, even if it isn’t fair. I’d ask you how you feel about paying for Polanski and Gibson films but anyone who uses ‘idiot’ and ’stupid’ tends not to have an opinion worth respecting.

26. Billyboy January 7th, 2009 at 2:10 pm 26

    Well congratulations to Woody on his 19th WGA nod!!!!

    Consider him a lock and for christ sakes put him on the TRACKER!

27. Zach January 7th, 2009 at 2:13 pm 27

    Have the WGA nominees been posted yet?

    My predix:
    Original
    -Milk
    -Happy-Go-Lucky
    -Rachel Getting Married
    -Synecdoche, New York
    -Vicky Cristina Barcelona

    I think Wall-E is not eligible, or animated films just don’t do well with this guild? I am sure it will be Oscar-nominated, though, and as much as I loved Barcelona, I am afraid it will be the one to go. That or Synecdoche, but Kaufman aficionados seem to LOVE it.

    *Edit: I am wondering if Happy will get in as it’s British…kind of wanting to throw The Wrestler in.

    Other Oscar spoilers: In Bruges, Burn After Reading, The Wrestler, The Visitor. The comedies are better written in this category, but how can we have so many of them? (Unless you consider some like Synecdoche dramatic.)

    Adapted
    -Slumdog Millionaire
    -Frost/Nixon
    -The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
    -Doubt
    -The Dark Knight

    At least, that’s my Oscar lineup. The Reader and Revolutionary Road could sneak in (apparently Iron Man too), but they’re not very well received. Both are very polarizing.

28. ABCDEF January 7th, 2009 at 2:27 pm 28

    could you imagine having as many noms as woody, not just writing but directing, acting, it is amazing

29. Flapp January 7th, 2009 at 3:08 pm 29

    Sure!

    Allen deserves all awards in this world.

    He´s te best director alive!

    He´s a Master.

    For me he´s above Hitchcock, Capar and Kazan.

    Allen is The One.

30. cjKennedy January 7th, 2009 at 3:27 pm 30

    Nice analysis Iggy, and I’m glad to see you were proven right. Here’s hoping Penelope gets a nod as well.

    VCB made my Top 10 for the year. I’m not sure I’d care to argue it as one of the 10 ‘best’ movies of the year but it’s easily one of my 10 favorites. I refuse to compare it to the things Allen has done before, I’m simply judging it on its own and the particular mood I was in both times I saw it. I thought it was intoxicating but with a nicely bitter twinge, like a good cocktail. It was the perfect adult antidote to all the summer nonsense we’d just sat through.

31. RichardA January 7th, 2009 at 4:13 pm 31

    VCB has this line by ScarJo: I don’t know what I want but I know I don’t want this.

    I sorta live by that line. So true, and I love it.

    Yay for the WGA nod.

32. iggy January 7th, 2009 at 5:17 pm 32

    Thanks, cjKennedy. It made my personal top 10, too.

    I also try to see every Allen film not comparing it with his previous works just getting into it, and he always manages to get me in. I guess I just see every Allen film as an additional gift every year, like something new and exciting.

    “I thought it was intoxicating but with a nicely bitter twinge, like a good cocktail.”

    That was just THE perfect description.

33. Bernardo S January 7th, 2009 at 5:37 pm 33

    There appears to be several inhabitants of Spain in this board and I would like to ask any of you a big favour:

    I just found out that my mother’s trip to Barcelona (which includes me) will mean I’m in Barcelona on Oscar night…

    I am terrified about not being able to watch the most important event of the year… I will be staying at a rather fancy hotel so I guess they’ll have satellite TV… to watch the Oscars at 4 in the morning :p.

    However, could you please tell me which local channels show the Oscars, preferibly with no Spanish dubbing?

34. Ryan Adams January 7th, 2009 at 5:38 pm 34

    @Jesús Alonso

    Can I just say that any movie starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz reminds me how much I want to visit Spain — for a month or year — so if that’s an advertisement, I’m buying whatever it’s selling.

    

    iggy, I’m glad to hear the Spanish dialogue retained the Allen touch. A friend of mine said he felt Juan Antonio insisting Maria Elena speak English around Cristina seemed like a convenient device — but I can verify that living in another a country it’s very considerate etiquette for bilingual hosts to accommodate an international guest by making sure conversation is a bridge and not a barrier.

    My only issue with the beautiful shots in and around Barcelona is that there were not more scenes shot on location. Twice now — in Match Point and VCB — Woody Allen has been reinvigorated and inspired to fresh perspective when he’s taken an American character and placed her in a European setting. Woody Allen has entered his Henry James phase.

    Several of the years most acclaimed movies are purely American in subject but find heightened impact through the eyes of European directors. It’s only right that American directors find ways to explore outside US boundaries and the bounds of typical Hollywood expectations. The surprising thing is that more American directors don’t try it.

35. Bernardo S January 7th, 2009 at 5:49 pm 35

    Just posting this so I can get followup comments via e-mail…

36. taptup January 7th, 2009 at 6:00 pm 36

    @iggy

    I don’t think the Spanish dialogues were originally in the script, at least all of them. I wonder if they didn’t add them for awards consideration (I’ve only read that copy) because I remember Woody Allen saying in an interview that he didn’t know what Javier and Penelope were saying until he was doing the subtitles in post. They feel improvised, but definitely not Allen’s, in my opinion. In fact, I think the first lines between Cruz and Bardem are pretty bad.

37. cjKennedy January 7th, 2009 at 7:11 pm 37

    I like how you think, Iggy.

    You too RichardA, that line pretty much sums up the first 30 odd years of my life.

38. Billyboy January 7th, 2009 at 7:52 pm 38

    @taptup / iggy

    Allen wrote the Spanish dialogue originally in English and had it translated for Bardem and Cruz. He told them, as he doesn’t speak a word of spanish, that they could improvise their lines in spanish as long as the main idea was respected.

    Penélope indeed improvised and cursed a lot, but keeping the main idea of the lines Allen wrote in English.

    Allen then returned to New York to edit and not until the subtitles were added he realized what the actors were saying.

    That script from the Weinstein FYC site is in fact a transcript from the movie and not the original script Allen wrote.

    Hope that helps.

39. iggy January 8th, 2009 at 5:00 am 39

    @Bernardo S

    I’m afraid I can’t be very helpful. As far as I know, if it’s like the previous years, there’s only one local (pay) channel broadcasting the Oscars and it’s with Spanish commentators and that annoying simultaneous dubbing. It’s called Canal +. I guess a fancy hotel should grant you access to this and to satellite TV, but check it out. It’s all a matter of $ and rights, so I guess it’s the ABC who rules and decides where you can see the Oscars.

    @Billyboy

    Thanks a lot, that’s it, that explains it. It seemed a little odd to me that Allen being the writer he is would have given complete freedom to the actors. But a mix of both improvisation upon what whas already written sounds logical.

    @Ryan. It’s so true, the first time in the movie Juan Antonio tells María Elena to speak in English one may think it’s a convenient device to justify using English. I’ve been in Maria Elena situation several times. No, not having thoughts of killing Scarlett, nor in bed with Javier, but being reminded to speak in English when with international guests, and no matter how many times you’re reminded to, you forget and tend to go back to your own language. So, it’s no wonder Juan Antonio is constantly reminding her to speak in English.

40. Carlos Balbás-Espín January 8th, 2009 at 5:04 pm 40

    I, too, am a huge fan of The Woodsman and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”. I think it is in fact one of his best works: an insightful examination of an unusual, kinda bohemian couple that doesn’t really work.

    When Alex and Edward L. say they loved the film but sort of felt it’s “small” it reminds me of something I read somewhere, I’m not sure where, that analyzed the current trend of overrating and excessively rewarding “important” films that sometimes are not even that good.
    (For the record, I do love “Babel”, which is one of the finest films ever made; and while I also consider “Crash” a part of that pantheon, “Brokeback Mountain” ranks even higher in it and should have won the Best Picture Oscar that year.)

    As for the Spanish dialogue in “VCB”, I thought it was fantastic and totally Allen-esque. I’d guess that’s what they had done, which is the most appropriate way and essentially what most film writers do when they add dialogue that’s supposed to be said in a language they don’t speak: write it natively and then have someone translate it. In this case I guess Woody knew Javier and Penélope could do it themselves.

    One last thing: wouldn’t it be excluding and maybe a little rude if I just started a conversation with iggy or any of the others in Spanish in this forum? Just a thought .

41. Carlos Balbás-Espín January 8th, 2009 at 5:12 pm 41

    By the way, I don’t know why but I haven’t seen anyone else mention it, but aren’t Penélope and Javier a couple in real life? If she indeed won the Oscar, he’d be delivering the statuatte to his co-star, fellow Spaniard and girlfriend! How cool would that be?!