Blue Valentine

As tired as the topic of relationships is in Hollywood, there still seems to be a couple drops of ideas coming from their plugged faucet. Recently in America, these short spurts of quality films about love are never happy, as if to shine light on illusion, but you can’t just be realistic and expect good results. What Blue Valentine does right is throw you into the worst part of a couple’s time together while they cling so viciously yet hopelessly on their past, also shown in the film. Because of this, the film never comes across as trying to tell you something or trying to make you feel something, and since it’s a portrait the beginning and end is wherever you interpret it to be.

A brilliant element of the film is the camera’s means of implying comfortability. There’s a LOT of extreme close-ups in the present time of the film showing the characters’ thoughts more clearly than anything else could. During the “sex” scenes of the present time, the angles are also incredibly awkward and unfortunately illustrious, again exhibiting the unnaturalness of the situations. Comparing this to the past flashbacks, of which are literally brighter and more colorful (lots of warm colors combined with…ya know…sun), the camera work is vivacious and jumpy and other fun adjectives. The camerawork alone could tell this story.

The combination of the cinematography/editing with the uncompromising acting of Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling is the epitome of “sum of the parts” (not that they'll win anything). They are both essentially playing two roles in both the past and present. This gives the needed insight to the true context of it all; the POTENTIAL of the beauty represented by these two juxtaposed with the disaster of a bad match. The sad part about that is that it’s really as simple as saying they were just a bad match, and that’s probably why people like them wait so long to break free instead of being honest with themselves. Honestly this should be required viewing in college sociology/psychology/logic courses.

Movies as escapism work for the masses, but for those who see the purpose of a mirror will also see the film’s purpose.

Nice review, Winter. I'm actually thinking about going to see this tomorrow. Sort of reminds me of the situation I was in recently, and judging by your review, it's probably not the best idea that I go and watch this. But **** it, I like uncomfortable viewings sometimes. I love Ryan Gosling and Michelle's a solid actor in her own right. I will let you know what I think.

Thanks, and looking forward to it

Thanks for the review. It's got 7.9 on imdb!Coming to Ryan Gosling news is that Nicolas Winding Refn is directing the actor in a New 'Logan's Run' and it's going to be a big 3D movie.

Still haven't seen it, Wint. I'm going to make an effort to see it later next week. I think a couple of venues are still showing it. That's the thing with indy flicks, gotta be quicker than quick to catch them in the cinema. I need to see that and The Fighter next week.

I saw this one already. It deserved the nomination but not the best picture award. So, I guess in that aspect the result was fair.

I thought it was good, but did anyone else notice how heavy handed it was at times? I mean,

Other than that, it was a solid film, especially the terrific performances.

I really enjoyed this movie. It was probably one of my favorites of the year. Gosling and Williams have wonderful chemistry on screen. It is definitely worth seeing.

Finally saw it. In fact, I have seen a lot of films recently that I have yet to tell MoFo. I thought it was great in a 'can't enjoy this at all' sort of way. Very depressing for the most part but it's makes it's point with an exclamation mark.

Even though there are no 'bad guys' in the film, I had a hard time feeling sympathy for the Williams' character. The scene in which she

Probably not the best film to watch if you've just gotten into a new relationship. Otherwise, it's really good stuff. Gosling was robbed.

Saw this film the other day and I liked it very much. Michelle Williams is such a fine actress, always good and with an exceptional sense (or a very good agent) for interesting, but not necessarily the most profitable, projects. She is definitely one of my favorite actors/actresses. And Gosling was great too.

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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.