BLUE VALENTINE

Ma's View: 

Just saw this movie last week and can't get it out of my head - such a heart-rendingly frank exposé of a relationship disintegrating.  And no-one really to blame - just two people who fell in love and married for the wrong reasons then found themselves to be quite incompatible in the day-to-day rigour of married life, parenthood and the demands of earning a living.  And to make it more poignant, we have the flashbacks to the exquisitely delightful love story of their courtship.  Sad, sad, sad.  More so when you think about how many relationships are embarked upon with the same sense of optimism and good will only to flounder on the same reefs.

Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling as the young couple give comsummate performances - both as their younger romantic selves and their older jaded versions trying to retrieve some of the romance in the relationship.  The raw honesty of their performances is gut-wrenching and the beauty of it is that we do not lose sympathy with either; there is no villain here, just 2 people who were not made for each other as they at first thought.

The cinematography is a bit heavy-handed in places especially in the motel where they go for a night of passion (his idea to mend the relationship!) that turns sour.  They end up in the "future room" which is blue-toned and depressing, airless and claustrophobic as their relationship has become.  I'm guessing the intention of director Derek Cianfrance was to impact the audience with this feeling/atmosphere and it works.  I couldn't wait to get out of there so I'm not surprised at what ensued!

Don't go to this movie if you want a lift in spririts!  But do go if you want to see an unflinching examination of what can go wrong when we let our hearts rule our heads!

My score:  7.5/10


Pepe's View:

This movie was too long by far - about 20 min by my reckoning and if there was one more scene filmed in "blue" tones I was going to scream!  This was obvious, sledgehammer filmmaking at its worst which was a shame as the movie actually explores a worthwhile and interesting theme - that of relationships which start out all roses and optimistic and then deteriorate over time.  Ma is right - the scriptwriter should be commended for his ability to portray the relationship between Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams both as it developed and as it deteroriated without forcing the audience to take sides - it was no one's fault they just fell out of love.  This scenario is repeated over and over in real life.
The director (Derek Cianfrance) did not grab me as a viewer and make me either care enough about or feel for the two leads and so it seems to me that a great opportunity to really make a film that assisted in our understanding of relationships and why some are successful and some are not, was lost.
For me a very disappointing movie experience.

My Score:  6/10