Barcelona (1994)
Directed by Whit Stillman
During the 1980s, uptight Ted Boynton is a salesman working in the Barcelona office of a Chicago-based company. He receives an unexpected visit from his cousin Fred, a naval officer who has come to Spain on a public relations mission for a U.S. fleet. Not exactly friends in the past, Ted and Fred strike up relationships with women in the Spanish city and experience conflicts -- Ted with his employer, and Fred with the Barcelona community.
3 connections found
View:
3 connections, in both directions
What critics compared Barcelona to
Like Stillman's " Metropolitan ," " Barcelona " and " The Last Days of Disco ," it gives us a hero who is articulate, multi-lingual, sophisticated beyond his years, and awesomely self-confident.
The middle film in writer-director Whit Stillman’s self-described trilogy – it was preceded by 1990’s Metropolitan (for which Stillman deservedly earned a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nomination) and followed by 1998’s The Last Days of Disco – Barcelona combines romance, comedy, philosophy and politics into one tantalizing package.
His fantastic debut Metropolitan was one of the best films of 1990 and his third film The Last Days of Disco is the flipside of Paul Thomas Anderson ’s Boogie Nights in evoking a misunderstood era.
Barcelona (1994) is the second of a trilogy of films that Stillman refers to as his Comedies of Mannerlessness (The first was 1990’s Metropolitan, the third was 1998’s The Last Days of Disco).
Whit Stillman ("Metropolitan"/"The Last Days of Disco") is the writer, director and producer of this semi-autobiographical lightweight romantic comedy about the cultural differences between Spain and America, as seen through the eyes of two tarnished mismatched American preppies.
It's interesting that Whit Stillman, the writer-director-producer of Metropolitan (1990) and Barcelona (1994) would make a movie that features disco dancing.
The Last Days of Disco isn't a bad satire, but it isn't up to the level of Metropolitan or Barcelona, Stillman's previous two films.
This is the talkiest film since Whit Stillman's Barcelona, and hopefully it signals a trend that we'll be hearing more interesting dialogue between men and women on the screen.