{"id":1493,"date":"2024-08-02T03:28:35","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T03:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1493"},"modified":"2024-10-14T13:13:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T17:13:54","slug":"blue-valentine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/02\/blue-valentine\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Valentine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Blue Valentine <\/strong>(2010)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Weinstein Company\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 112 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong graphic sexual content, nudity, language, a scene of violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Derek Cianfrance\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis and Cami Delavigne\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Grizzly Bear\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Andrij Parekh\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 28, 2011 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Faith Wladyka, John Doman, Mike Vogel, Marshall Johnson, Jen Jones, Maryann Plunkett, James Benatti, Barbara Troy, Carey Westbrook, Ben Shankman, Eileen Rosen.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $9.7M (US)\/$15.4M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s rare to see a film as brutally honest about marriage as Blue Valentine<\/strong>. Too many people have a romanticized vision of it thanks in no small part to Hollywood continually churning out these romantic fantasies with happy, fairy-tale endings that typically involve a wedding. Anybody that\u2019s married or has been married knows the story doesn\u2019t end there. Life goes on for the couple. Wedded bliss gives way to adult concerns like family, careers and money. It takes a lot of effort and dedication to maintain a marriage. Sometimes it just doesn\u2019t work out. There are a lot of reasons why marriages end, some easier to explain than others. It can be something easily identifiable like adultery or abuse. Other times, it\u2019s a matter of one partner falling out of love with the other. The change is so gradual; it goes unnoticed until one partner gets hit with the realization they don\u2019t even like the person sleeping next to them. That\u2019s where the story begins in Blue Valentine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The viewer immediately knows something is off with Cindy (Williams, Brokeback Mountain) and Dean (Gosling, The Notebook), a young married couple living in rural Pennsylvania with their 6YO daughter Frankie (Wladyka). Relations are clearly strained between the couple. It can be heard in the way they communicate with each other. They speak without actually connecting. It can also be seen in her attitude towards him. She\u2019s cold and indifferent to him. He doesn\u2019t get why. She\u2019s holding a lot back. As Blue Valentine<\/strong> progresses, we learn what. She\u2019s frustrated by his lack of maturity and motivation. He loves his job as a house painter; it\u2019s one of the few jobs where he can crack open his first beer at 8am. His drinking, that\u2019s another concern. He, in turn, is frustrated by her constantly resisting his attempts at romance and sex. They argue a lot. Their failing marriage is a powder keg on the brink of exploding.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Most filmmakers would chronicle the deterioration of the marriage showing the audience exactly what went wrong. Director Derek Cianfrance (The Place Beyond the Pines) takes a much different approach. He juxtaposes scenes from the end of Dean and Cindy\u2019s marriage with scenes from the beginning of their relationship. There is no middle to this story. While we\u2019re never told what brought them from where they were then to where they are now, it\u2019s obvious they somehow grew apart during that span of time. It started pretty great though.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s not like Dean and Cindy\u2019s paths were meant to cross. He lives in New York; she\u2019s from Pennsylvania. She\u2019s a pre-med student; he\u2019s a high school drop-out who works for a moving company. She plans to be a doctor; he has no plan at all. She\u2019s just coming out of an abusive relationship when they cross paths for the first time. They have one of those chance meetings where two people meet in an unlikely place; in their case, a retirement home. She\u2019s visiting her grandmother at the same time he\u2019s helping a new resident move in. He gives her his number. She doesn\u2019t call. He tracks her down. After some initial awkwardness, they start dating and fall deeply in love.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The drama culminates in a harrowing scene at the clinic where Cindy works. Dean shows up drunk and they have this huge heated argument in which they finally make their true feelings known. WOW! That\u2019s all I can say about it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Blue Valentine<\/strong> nearly got slapped with an NC-17 rating for an explicit scene of Dean performing oral sex on Cindy. This is a perfect example of the old MPAA double standard regarding sex scenes. It\u2019s perfectly within the limits of an R when a woman goes down on a man. Hell, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective got a PG-13 even though it\u2019s heavily implied it happens to Ace in one scene. If the situation is reversed, it\u2019s considered pornographic. What\u2019s their problem with women being pleasured? In any event, it was changed to an R on appeal without a single cut being made.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s not just the non-linear narrative structure that sets Blue Valentine<\/strong> apart from the pack; it\u2019s also the artful cinematography by Andrij Parekh. He shoots the \u201cthen\u201d scenes in 16mm and switches to Red One for the \u201cnow\u201d scenes. As a result, the \u201cthen\u201d scenes have a brighter, softer look like memories filtered through nostalgic hindsight with a slight hint of melancholy from knowing it doesn\u2019t end well for them. The \u201cnow\u201d scenes take on a detached feeling with scenes of the estranged lovers shot from afar. It was a stroke of genius on Cianfrance\u2019s part to use juxtaposition to tell Dean and Cindy\u2019s sad, emotionally charged story. The different visual styles make it all the more tangible.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Both Gosling and Williams deliver powerhouse performances in Blue Valentine<\/strong>. The highest praise I can bestow on them is that they are completely authentic in their respective roles. They never once lapse into melodrama. Their largely improvised dialogue cuts like a knife. What\u2019s even more impressive is how they convincingly depict their complex characters at different stages in life. Older Cindy is noticeably exhausted, both physically and emotionally, while younger Cindy is filled with hope. Older Dean is bitter, resentful and desperate to keep the marriage alive when it should be taken off life support. His attempts to spice things up, like taking Cindy to a cheesy motel for a night of passion, feel forced. He too looks worn down by life; a stark contrast to the happy-go-lucky guy he was just six years earlier. In order to prepare for their roles, the two actors moved into a rented home and acted like a couple, living on a budget based on their characters\u2019 incomes and staging arguments. It obviously worked. Thanks to their volatile chemistry, Blue Valentine<\/strong> is a uniquely visceral viewing experience.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cianfrance makes a startling directorial debut with an emotionally complex film that stays with you long after the final credits stop rolling. He pulls no punches in any aspect, allowing his characters to display raw, non-artificial emotion. The \u201cnow\u201d sex scenes aren\u2019t tantalizing; they\u2019re an illustration of how far the couple has drifted apart. The look on Williams’ face as her husband tries to make love to her in a crappy motel room says she just wants it to be over with. The flame of passion has long since been snuffed out by dreary reality.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s natural to hope for a happy ending when watching a movie, mainly because such endings aren\u2019t a given in real life. There are no easy solutions to complicated problems in real life. It would be self-defeating on the director\u2019s part to offer a pat solution to the main characters\u2019 problems in Blue Valentine<\/strong>. They\u2019ve gone unchecked for too long to be fixed. That\u2019s how life is. Sometimes we stay in a bad situation trying to make it better even though we know deep down it\u2019s hopeless. The saddest part is the realization that the love they once shared can\u2019t be salvaged. The final shot is one of the most heartbreaking I\u2019ve ever seen. I love that Cianfrance has the balls to not cop out with a fake happy Hollywood ending. Blue Valentine<\/strong> is honest enough to tell it like it is. It\u2019s the best film of its kind since Alan Parker\u2019s incredible Shoot the Moon. It\u2019s an adult film dealing with adult subjects in a realistic way. It\u2019s a heavy movie, but it\u2019s definitely worth the effort.\"\"<\/p>\n

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Blue Valentine (2010)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Weinstein Company\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 112 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong graphic sexual content, nudity, language, a scene of violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Derek Cianfrance\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis and Cami Delavigne\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Grizzly Bear\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Andrij Parekh\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 28, 2011 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Faith Wladyka, John Doman, Mike Vogel, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Blue-Valentine-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1493"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2039,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493\/revisions\/2039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}