“Blue Valentine,” starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, is a bleak movie about a marriage breaking apart. If you’ve seen “Black Swan” and “Rabbit Hole” recently, then you’re probably pretty depressed and in need of a pick-me-up. See “The King’s Speech” because “Blue Valentine” isn’t going to make you feel better. In fact, director Derek Cianfrance is so obvious about the dissolution of this marriage that we want the movie to end long before it does. Where Cianfrance’s script (he’s credited as co-writer) is weak is with motivation. We want to know why Dean and Cindy fall out of love, but Cianfrance prefers to show us flashbacks about how Dean and Cindy met juxtaposed with their current dissatisfaction.
Did Cindy really love Dean in the first place? We get just a brief hint, when Cindy is at a women’s clinic, that Cindy has been searching for love. So she settles for Dean? He’s a working class guy without a high school diploma and she’s a pre-med student. Is this a match destined for longevity? Five years later, Dean is lazy, combative and an alcoholic, while Cindy is frustrated and angry that she gave up on her future. Love might be blind, but that’s not what “Blue Valentine” is about. Fortunately, the performances are solid. Gosling mixes his character’s charm with a credible anger while Williams is powerful as a woman despairing over her life. 1/3/11
1 comment:
This depressing film will drag you into the depths of a nasty relationship and the cruelty of life and the loss of love. This movie is not entertainment but a story of hopelessness and failure. What a waste of two fine actors. Skip it!!
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