Barcelona

The Movie Snob revisits an old favorite.

Barcelona (B+).  I have long enjoyed indie director Whit Stillman’s work, so it’s a shame I still haven’t reviewed all (five) of his movies on this blog.  I recently rewatched this one, the second of his “doomed bourgeois in love” trilogy from the 1990s, and I enjoyed it yet again. It’s the 1980s, and two young American men, Fred and Ted, find themselves in the titular city of Barcelona.  Like most of Stillman’s characters, they are hyperarticulate, constantly musing aloud about the things that matter most to young people—mostly love and commitment, but also concerns about career, success, and finding a place in the modern world. Fred and Ted also happen to be cousins who are more like bickering brothers, and they make a fun odd couple as Fred first unexpectedly drops in on Ted for an extended stay and then tries to liven up his social life.  The movie is unusually political for a Stillman film, with anti-Americanism and terrorism making up an important element of the story.  Watch for Mira Sorvino in a substantial role just a year before her Oscar-winning turn in Mighty Aphrodite.

I have the Criterion Collection DVD and watched several of the extras, including a few talk-show interviews with Stillman that were kind of interesting.  I also rewatched some of the movie with the commentary track turned on.  The commentary featured Stillman and the two stars of the film, Taylor Nichols (The American President) and Chris Eigeman (Metropolitan), and it wasn’t as insightful or as interesting as I had hoped it would be.  Anyway, if you enjoy witty dialogue, you should definitely check out Stillman’s work—his other films being Metropolitan, The Last Days of Disco, Damsels in Distress, and Love and Friendship.