BLUE VALENTINE arrives on our doorstep in the peak of award season. It has arrived with very little press, though HUGE word of mouth and some critics are even calling it the film of the year; and we’re only in the second week of January.
Derek Cianfrance directs Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling in this film which charts the making, and indeed breaking of a relationship in contemporary America. The film is strangely split into two, with present day footage taking place over the course of around 24 hours, and then flashbacks of the couple meeting, getting together and falling in love spread over a few years.
What first grabbed me about this movie was the look. Here Cianfrance and his cinematographer have gone for two very distinct styles and techniques. The first is a very locked down camera approach for the present day stuff, and an old-school, grainy 16mm look for the earlier scenes when our couple meet. It’s very distinctive and excellently executed. The present day scenes also have very much of a voyeuristic look about it, almost as if we are peeking at this troubled couple from a distance, almost intruding on their lives. Cianfrance employs largely telescopic lenses, which naturally gives the frame a very shallow depth of focus, thus giving the audience a very cramped, awkward feeling. The old stuff is exactly the opposite, and we feel more free, or should I say it employs a feeling of freedom where the camera is always hand-held. Very subtle, but very, very effective.
What I want to spend a large part of this review on are the two central performances. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are outstanding in this movie, and they are what make it what it is. Without their on-screen chemistry, this film would not work. When I say outstanding, I mean OUTSTANDING. I was so invested in both of their performances that I came out of the screening both emotionally and physically drained. If these two actors do not get recognised at this weekend’s Golden Globes for best actor and best actress respectively, I will literally give up writing about movies and The Hollywood News will be no more. They are Dean and Cindy. There is a particular scene mid-way through the movie that displays the sheer talent of Williams in particular, and it is so heartbreaking that it is almost impossible to watch. It is also the scene that has caused the most controversy and the one that led the film to receive an initial NC-17 rating in the United States. Gosling and Williams’ characters venture off to a hotel in the middle of nowhere to try to save their dying relationship, and to get alone time away from their small daughter. They have sex, and it’s a sex scene that is not graphic, it is not erotic, it is not sexy, violent or in anyway implies any kind of rape. It is merely a couple that are heading unknowingly towards the end of their relationship who perform an act of love making that is now no longer enjoyable, endurable or in any way what it is meant to be, at least from Williams’ character’s point of view. This is displayed on screen not through dialogue, screaming or indeed any sound but with just a single shot of Williams’ face as she is being kissed by Gosling’s Dean. I just wept, and even now as I write this review two days later, the thoughts and vision is still there of that particular scene that defines Williams’ flawless performance.
As for Gosling? Well, this young actor is carving himself quite an acclaimed career. If films like LARS AND THE REAL GIRL and HALF NELSON got him noticed in Hollywood, BLUE VALENTINE will secure his status even further. His almost method approach is just brilliantly spot on. The actor is almost unrecognisable in the opening scenes set in the present, and the transformation that his character goes through as the relastionship deteriorates is noticeable both physically and emotionally.
I’m writing this now and thinking to myself; did I enjoy this movie? Did I like it? Of course, I loved it. It’s possibly one of the best of the last twelve months; but did I enjoy it? I found it an ordeal to get through, and it possibly made me evaluate things in my own life. Am I trying hard enough? Don’t take things for granted. Yes, try harder! I related to some of it, and that’s scary. I think that most of us will; but please, this is not a bad movie and I do not mean for the previous comments to make you believe this. It is because it is good. It is because the story is told so beautifully. It is because it is so well paced. It is because we invest in these characters, but strangely do not take sides with either. It is so spot on in the fact that sometimes relationships do run their course, as it has with these two. It’s heartbreaking. It’s so sad, but it is an amazing display of filmmaking and acting at its very best.
I have seen every film that is to be released at UK cinemas this week. This film, if you had to choose, is the one that you should be seeing — and that possibly includes anything else that might be playing at the moment too. Even with so many good films out there presently, this is near the best of the bunch and could be the best film that you see all year.
Outstanding.
Grade: A
