Tennessee (**3/4)

Brothers (Adam Rothenberg, Ethan Peck) trek east from New Mexico in this low-key drama. On the way, they meet a waitress in a diner (Mariah Carey) whose husband has become abusive. Although there is also abuse in the background of the brothers—their father is the reason they fled—the movie has nothing new to say on that subject. It’s all about brotherly love. The older of the two, once a protector, has become alcoholic. The younger one is sick, which is, indirectly, why they are returning to Tennessee. What they will find there is what drives the plot. Director Aaron Woodley favors a still camera and subdued lighting to such an extent that it’s monotonous, despite some painterly tableaux. The only music is Carey, humming to herself and, later, warbling a tune she wrote with Willie Nelson in a singer-songwriter style not common on her records. The conclusion is satisfying if you don’t like having every loose knot tied up.

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viewed 6/4/09 (screening at Ritz 5); reviewed 6/19/09

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