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MOVIE REVIEW
Blue Valentine
Fragments Of Lives Loved,
And Lost Relations
Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine".
The Weinstein Company
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Friday,
January 7, 2011
Human relationships are lived, or played out in fragments: blips of
experience, moments and memories that flicker and dance around in time. We
remember past and present relationships in this same non-linear way. Derek Cianfrance's drama "Blue Valentine" plays precisely
so: as lively storyboards of out-of-sequence episodes between married couple
Dean and Cindy. We don't know all
the true cause(s) of the consternation between them, but we know that once
upon a time Dean and Cindy loved each other, and that sometime later they don't.
Set in New York and Pennsylvania, "Blue Valentine" is an unsentimental look at
the anatomy of the relationship between Dean and Cindy, and at situations before
and during their
togetherness. Mr. Cianfrance draws a philosophical bent from one
character on relationships and fate, but doesn't indict or judge either, making the film a
refreshingly open-ended experience. There's little gimmickry except that
which the actors supply themselves. For Dean and Cindy, there's no happily ever after,
only a finite ending after the promise of an always.
Mr. Cianfrance gets great performances from Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams
as Dean and Cindy. Ms. Williams' work feels more natural and less
restrained than Mr. Gosling's, and also more complex and mercurial. We
never really know what Cindy's thinking. She has a lot going on within,
and the film teases it out of her. By contrast, we always seem to know
what's on Dean's mind. He's an impulsive type. Mr. Gosling has a
more showy role, but he doesn't play it that way. Sometimes he is
mechanical in approach, other times Mr. Gosling is less brittle and doctrinaire
as he allows Dean to be bold in one potentially hair-raising scene. Dean
and Cindy are authentic characters from two different classes. He: a
mover, she: a doctor-in-training. These myriad contrasts form as much a
dynamic of curious attraction and repulsion as anything else.
In "Blue Valentine" there aren't
good guys or bad girls; just human beings looking for stability and
understanding, though they're over-analyzed or pulled from context. The
director doesn't romanticize Dean's and Cindy's plight; the film's only weakness is
one bit of
melodrama, even if within the realistic scope of a couple's strife. The interaction between
Dean and Cindy feels like something
John Cassavetes might have drawn up.
"Blue Valentine" has its intimate close-ups, occasionally with
distinct shots of physicality evoking a scene in John Schlesinger's "Midnight
Cowboy", although more languid. That said, the second shot of "Blue
Valentine" makes your heart plunge: a long, crude stretch of road that looks
like a fault line foreshadowing a chasm. It's like an ugly, angry fork
parting a green wilderness of innocence, perfect symbolism for Mr. Cianfrance's
film, which has its few moments of mirth. The film also has its share of music but
what you hear doesn't manipulate you into feeling something, since it serves as
an anthem for Dean's and Cindy's feelings for (and fond memories of) each other.
Though occasionally somber and stark, "Blue
Valentine" has more energy and movement than say, Ingmar Bergman's biting, claustrophobic epic "Scenes From A Marriage", but
like that film it explores emotions and relationships in a brutally honest and
literal manner.
"Blue Valentine" isn't a film that pines for your
sympathy, though that the film was initially rated NC-17 by the MPAA is enough of a
travesty to feel sympathy for its director and The Weinstein Company, who
released the newly R-rated film. Note to the MPAA: please stop treating
America as if it's three months old. This is a 234-year-old country.
We are adults. We've seen oral sex scenes before. And we know what
oral sex is. A whole lot of us have experienced it too. (One wonders
whether the MPAA has, especially in the context of a nuanced adult story.)
At the end of the day we care about Dean and Cindy, not in a "movie" way, but in
a sincere, heartfelt human way. We want them to make it
right. We hope they get it right. We attempt to understand what went
wrong. We are informed by our own personal experiences, yet we wonder: what
really makes these
two charismatic individuals fall out of love? Is it time?
Circumstances? Suspicion? The inevitability of life and growing
older, or apart? Or all? The predicaments of Dean and Cindy, who
also have a young daughter, are easy to identify with and relate to.
Though some of their tribulations may feel rote or banal, Dean and Cindy are
characters worth investing in for nearly two hours.
Naturally, because it is so intimate and authentic,
"Blue Valentine" makes us think about the fickle nature of human
beings. Inevitably we are left to examine our
own relationships as the onscreen dance flickers vividly. (Watch those
closing credits!) Mr. Cianfrance's effort, some 13 years in the making,
and a hit at Sundance last year, is not the most
uplifting film, but it's one of the most personal, pure-hearted romantic
chronicles of young people that you will ever see.
With: Faith Wladaya, John Doman, Mike Vogel, Marshall Johnson, Jen Jones,
Maryann Plunkett.
"Blue Valentine" is rated R by the Motion
Picture Association Of America for strong graphic sexual content, language, and
a beating.
The film's running time is one hour and 54 minutes.
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