MOVIE REVIEW: Blue Valentine (2010)

Blue Valentine is the spiritual successor to (500) Days of Summer, but with a more somber tone. It is the cinematic complement to Eminem and Rihanna's "I Love the Way You Lie". In either case, it's the tragic story of the life and death of a marriage, told in a fragmented timeline as the audience is contrasted the courtship between the heated contentions leading towards breakup. All of this is directed with an apt hand by relative unknown Derek Cianfrance, who portrays the story under a more realistic and authentic light than similarly-themed, but glossier productions like Revolutionary Road. 50 percent of the film's strength comes from the tour-de-force performances by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, who in my opinion, richly deserve Oscar nominations for their complex portrayals of the couple in turmoil.

The story is about a young couple living in rural northern Pennsylvania with their young daughter. Gosling is a high school dropout who paints homes for a living, but functions mainly as a stay-at-home dad, and it is implied he has an alcohol problem. Williams is his wife - a career-oriented nurse who quit medical school upon discovering she was pregnant with her daughter. All of this may sound familiar at first, because it is a story of countless relationships that we are cognizant of in our lives that are headed for disaster. What's different about Blue Valentine, however, is that it shows the breakdown in such an emotionally conflicting manner, that it's hearbreaking to watch. Despite the intoxication we may experience when falling in love, as time passes, there is still a chance for individuals to change personality: Gosling is the talented, directionless boy who never grew up, but truly finds happiness living simply with a wife and child. Williams is the ambitious girl who felt she threw away her lucrative educational potential for a life of stagnant domesticity. You desperately want these two to see a positive means to their ends and become content and civil. But like a devastating terminal illness (another subtle theme within the film), it just isn't meant to be.

Initially given a dubious NC-17 by the MPAA, but re-rated R after appeals, I wonder if the whole fuss was more a publicity stunt, rather than a controversy. The most graphic thing that occurs in this film are two brief sequences of strategically-obscured cunnilingus, and the rest of the film is standard R-rated fare. Case in point, I'm convinced by this film about the double-standard that the MPAA truly chastizes sex over violence, which demonstrates one of many unfortunate and absurd social maladies in America. Blue Valentine features a nice, folk-sy musical score from the band Grizzly Bear. The main characters' song, while pleasant out of context from the film, becomes incredibly melancholy after seeing the film itself.

9/10

Peace,
- Jon