Sunday, February 6, 2011

Gosling less Notebookish.

About a month ago I got home to with smudged make up and teary eyes.
I quickly explained to Beth that everything was ok, I had just seen Blue Valentine.
Sometimes movies come at the right time in your life. Sometimes I see an animated movie and it reignites the child in me. It opens up the little cupboard in my heart and lets me see the world the way I used to see it. Sometimes I see an action packed film and am reminded why I am, at heart, a tom boy who revels in explosions and martial arts and general kicking arse. And sometimes I see a drama about love and I remember why I have love tattooed on my wrist. This film came at the right time.
Blue Valentine reminded me why I love love and why it also consumes me.
Blue Valentine follows Cindy and Dean, a young couple who's deflated marriage is intercut between a blissful and youthful courtship and a suffocating and exhausting decline.
As you watch both their beginning and their end, you are confronted with a very real film about two people who fall in and then out of love.
I often find myself sitting in a movie theatre crying about things that bare only a thread of resemblance to what I'm watching.  I've said it before: films are my emotional outlet and as someone who finds it hard to open up, sometimes my heart just bursts when I watch something moving. I found this film very very sad and very very real. I haven't experienced this exact story but it did touch a few raw nerves.
Blue Valentine is at times completely uncomfortable to watch. It's always frustrating to see two human beings tear each other down when there was once so much love and wonder.
Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are equally amazing. Ryan especially, as a man who found an identity as a father and a husband but ultimately lost his appeal when Cindy found his 'small' life  uninspired.
It's hard not to side with him but I found myself also empathising with Cindy. Her life hasn't turned out as planned and her big dreams are just that: dreams.
These are two people who have done nothing wrong but can no longer do right by each other.
The sex scenes are a particularly hard watch. To see them almost mourn and commiserate through sex is both sad and incredibly hard to act out I would imagine. These two actor's deserve many accolades for their performances.
I don't recommend Blue Valentine as a first date film. I don't really recommend it as an any date film. See it with someone you love and high five once you leave the cinema.




1 comment:

  1. A beautifully written and very accurate review of the film Pockets. I'm high five-ing you right now x

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