Biutiful (***1/4)

Moral complexity is Alejandro González Iñárritu’s thing, whether in his native Mexico (Amores Perros), the United States (21 Grams), or in Morrocco and Japan (Babel). Leaving no continent unconquered (except, so far Australia, notwithstanding his employment of Naomi Watts and Cate Blanchett), he’s set this in Barcelona, with Spaniard Javier Bardem as the lead, a single father hustling to earn enough money and prepare for his children’s uncertain future.

This has one of those beginnings that irritate me, with seemingly random scenes—an unseen couple whispering about a ring, a dreamy conversation in snowy woods—starting the film. Then we see Bardem nervous at a doctor’s office, “interpreting” for the dead at a funeral, negotiating over illegal street vendors, and so on. Somewhere in there is a half-naked woman make noise while another man tries to hush her up so he can talk on the phone. Yet this turns out to be not as tricky as it seems. For the first time, Iñárritu focuses mostly on a single character, although dancer turned actress Maricel Álvarez makes an impression as a woman whose mental health and drug issues have caused custody to be awarded to her ex-husband.

Bardem’s character is struggling with his own issues, both ethical and practical, and his crises in both areas, crises with little time to resolve, create an increasingly compelling narrative.

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viewed 3/27/11 at Ritz 5 and reviewed 3/29/11

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (***1/2)

Woody Allen famously said, “The heart wants what it wants.” But what if the heart doesn’t know what it wants? Such is the case with Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johanssen), two friends on a Spanish summer holiday who get an unusually frank proposition from a native painter (Javier Bardem). The promise of kinkiness between Johanssen and Penelope Cruz in the ads probably accounts for Woody getting his widest opening (no pun intended) in years. The kinkiness is on the mild side, but mainstream moviegoers discovering or rediscovering the aging director will find one of his more engaging comedy dramas, especially if they like Spanish guitar or the design work of Antoní Gaudi.

It’s a meditation on love rather than duplicity, the common theme of his preceding London trilogy. Practical Vicky gets pulled along by free-spirited Cristina, but finds herself questioning her own ideas about relationships. Bardem has a European sort of macho about him, employing quiet confidence rather than swagger. It seems to me that, as Woody has appeared less in his own films, he’s been more free to create different sorts of male leads. For that matter, the tone is different from the director’s earlier work. The light comedy is more reminiscent of an Eric Roemer film than, say, Annie Hall. The most overt humor is when Cruz, as the painter’s volatile ex-wife, comes into the picture, but there are no one-liners. Maybe Woody should keep traveling the world to make movies; at 72, he has subtly reinvented himself once again.

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viewed 8/19/08 at Ritz 5; reviewed 8/19/08 and 8/26/08