Love is no walk in the park. Love is hard, grueling, heart wrenching, and destructive at times. But that one moment where it works, that one night where the magic is real, it makes it all worth while. Love is shown in this more realistic take in Derek Cianfrance's film, Blue Valentine.
Blue Valentine goes away from Hollywood love stories, the a typical cliches of finding true love, red hearts and butterflies and roses, to a emotionally brutal, flat colored tale of a struggling love that is failing. The story follows a couple, played by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, from when they first meet to years later in their marriage. We see their love move from that puppy dog stage from dating, to this almost stale, angry stage in the film. We see their fighting affection for their child, and all the difficulties they have overcome, and all the ones that are going on in their marriage.
The film has an incredibly bland and almost flat feel. The imagery, the color palette, the shot selection are used to the extent that this is almost something happening now, reflecting real life love: hard, tough, but the good times are the ones that make it worth while.
The camera work can sometimes get too Hunger Gamesish with the shaky cam, but for the most part it works. It gives that raw edge to young love. It doesn't pretend to glamorize love, or show it's cheesy cliche side. It shows love is not something for the faint of heart, and something that requires work from both parties to bring into fruition.
Gosling and Michelle Williams are absolutely off the charts good. The scenes where they fight and cry, where they are trying so hard to make it work, are incredibly authentic. The raw emotion feels and looks so real, you want to jump in there and help at times, or throw a punch.
I felt this way with Michelle Williams. She treated Gosling like crap the whole movie, and it's his fault. Then again, this is a guy's perspective. Gosling again gives me hope. I thought he was a diva, but this movie changed that. His acting is so in moment and visceral. When he cries for his child or tries to work with his wife, I always felt for him.
The acting takes the movie to a higher level. Is it anything that people will remember forever? No, but it paints love in a much more realistic and gruesome way, one that I feel is much more comparable to real life.
Blue Valentine is not a movie for the faint of heart. It's brutal harsh portrait of love and what it can do to a man's soul: How it can kill it, and how it can save it. It's a solid movie showcasing the now present talent Hollywood can provide. As Gosling so eloquently put it in the song he sings to her, "You always hurt the ones you love." Yes we do, but how we win them back, now that is a true love story.
Blue Valentine goes away from Hollywood love stories, the a typical cliches of finding true love, red hearts and butterflies and roses, to a emotionally brutal, flat colored tale of a struggling love that is failing. The story follows a couple, played by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, from when they first meet to years later in their marriage. We see their love move from that puppy dog stage from dating, to this almost stale, angry stage in the film. We see their fighting affection for their child, and all the difficulties they have overcome, and all the ones that are going on in their marriage.The film has an incredibly bland and almost flat feel. The imagery, the color palette, the shot selection are used to the extent that this is almost something happening now, reflecting real life love: hard, tough, but the good times are the ones that make it worth while.
The camera work can sometimes get too Hunger Gamesish with the shaky cam, but for the most part it works. It gives that raw edge to young love. It doesn't pretend to glamorize love, or show it's cheesy cliche side. It shows love is not something for the faint of heart, and something that requires work from both parties to bring into fruition.
Gosling and Michelle Williams are absolutely off the charts good. The scenes where they fight and cry, where they are trying so hard to make it work, are incredibly authentic. The raw emotion feels and looks so real, you want to jump in there and help at times, or throw a punch.
The acting takes the movie to a higher level. Is it anything that people will remember forever? No, but it paints love in a much more realistic and gruesome way, one that I feel is much more comparable to real life.
Blue Valentine is not a movie for the faint of heart. It's brutal harsh portrait of love and what it can do to a man's soul: How it can kill it, and how it can save it. It's a solid movie showcasing the now present talent Hollywood can provide. As Gosling so eloquently put it in the song he sings to her, "You always hurt the ones you love." Yes we do, but how we win them back, now that is a true love story.
Comments
Post a Comment