Blue Valentine

"Blue Valentine" was directed by Derek Cianfrance.  It stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams.

Dean and Cindy (Gosling and Williams) were once deeply in love.  However, as the years go by their relationship begins to crumble.  This film goes back and forth between the early parts of their relationship where they are happy and in love and the latter part of the relationship, doomed to divorce.

The two leads for a movie like this needed to have believable chemistry with one another.  Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams apparently were up to that challenge.  The viewer really believes that they were once young and incredibly in love.  They get married after Cindy becomes pregnant by another man and even brings Dean home to see her parents, something showing the seriousness of the relationship.  As the years go by, they raise a daughter together and begin to fall apart from each other.  This is partially to Dean drinking too much and Cindy being convinced he is not taking advantage of his fullest potential as a person.  The fights between them, including one at a cheap motel, which in some strange way was supposed to help salvage the marriage, all seem genuine.  The anger, the tears, the love, among whatever other emotion you choose to put on the list, was most likely displayed well by the two lead actors.  Seeing as they are in just about every scene of the film, this makes things rather nice.

The filming of "Blue Valentine" was unique.  The scenes taking place in the past, happier part of the couple's relationship were filmed to look much grainer and older.  The scenes in the present, near the demise of there relationship, are much clearer.  I love how the film makers chose to do this since it sets apart the two portions of their life.  As a result of this the frequent cuts back and forth between the relationship were easy to follow.  This non-linear style of filmmaking is one of my favorites, and was used perfectly in "Blue Valentine."  Doing the relationship in chronological order would have been too boring.  I enjoyed seeing how the two seasons of the relationship mirrored one another.  Besides this, "Blue Valentine" is just a beautiful film.  There are several close-ups shots of the actors, mainly the leads.  This makes the raw emotion seem even more intense and becomes the focus of many scenes.  Also,  occasionally the background of a scene would be slightly out of focus and the person in the foreground would be in focus.  This added to the aesthetic quality of the film as well.  Other impression camera work was also on display throughout this film.

Just a word to the wise, this film used to be rated NC-17.  The company fought the Motion Picture Association of America for an R rating, so they could make more money off it in this country since more theaters would show it.  They won and this film is rated R for all to see, however, there are a few scenes with sexual content.  I wouldn't be able to comment on how graphic they are because I wasn't actually looking at the screen at the time.  So, just beware of that, and be careful who you see it with so it's not awkward for everyone.  Or look away and almost all the awkwardness disappears immediately.

Another word to the wise, although not about sexual content this time:  This movie is quite a downer.  A very well made downer, but a downer nonetheless.  If you are one who does not enjoy sad movies, then I would see a different film at the cinema.

"Blue Valentine" was a great film.  I sense some Academy Award nominations.  The acting by the two leads was exceptional and the cinematography was beautiful.  The subject matter is sad and graphic at times, so I can't really recommend this film to everyone.  Take from that what you will, but this is one of those movies that makes me love Academy Awards season.  4 out of 4 stars

-Joseph Sbrilli