January 20, 2011: Blue Valentine
How is it that a movie can have great buzz for months, and then once it goes into wide release and all the critical reviews come out, it gets three stars out of five from everyone? I complained about this phenomenon in my review of Somewhere, and Blue Valentine receives the same strange treatment, and I think it’s because it falls into the same kind of trap. Powerful performances and an incisive idea don’t necessarily add up to a coherent and complete film.
I don’t think I can write much about Blue Valentine because what each viewer will take from it will depend so completely on their perspective and experience, as everyone’s relationships and families are so different despite the similarities in what we all go through. Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling bring their interpretations of a young couple falling in love, intercut with scenes of that same couple crumbling to pieces. It’s hard to describe and it’s also hard to know what “should” happen, much as in real life. Personally, I didn’t find the ending to be satisfying but I fully realize that it’s because of my individual take on how people interact. The buzz around Blue Valentine was well deserved and it may quite legitimately strike a brilliant note for some, but for me too many of the characters’ decisions didn’t make sense, and that unfortunately undercut the emotional weight of both the happiness and the sadness. It’s great that films like this can be made, and that people can see them.
Left open to intensely personal interpretations.
Post a Comment