Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance)
As near accurate a portrait of the perfect love affair and its literal death are
rendered here explicitly and so utterly, that it's jaw-dropping closing moments
will floor even those hardest of hearts [I can imagine the disappointment of the
archetypal couple, hoping for a romantic diversion to affirm their own
burgeoning amore: she persuading him that it's not a sentimental chick-flic,
while secretly assuming it is and he, all harrumphing scepticism, ending up
being the first one dribbling tears and snot into his half-empty pop-corn bag
when he realises they're probably doomed].
The chemistry between Ryan
Gosling and Michelle Williams is deeply involving. They're total opposites.
She's very internal, reserved - a little too inscrutable [to the point that some
will empathise less with her] but her restraint does what it's supposed to -
unwittingly pulls us in. Williams is exquisite with restraint [as just one single heart-stopping shot in Brokeback Mountain will testify]. He's visibly
emotional, always (self)analytical, his heart not just on his sleeve but worn
proudly like some shiny enamel badge - all gamboling immaturity that drags us
along for the ride. If it was anyone but Gosling we'd be gagging.
With her quiet
intensity & seriousness and his openness & sentimental nature, in some
ways it's quite a gender role-reversal for a love story. But this
chalk and cheese characterisation is also an early alarm-bell of the cracks to come
and not only do they ignore it but so do we - who in life hasn't ignored those
warning signs while skipping along the wishful-thinking path? Hopeless romantics will wax lyrical about the attraction of
opposites, that spark of instant amore, the clash that is only a hurdle on the
path to 'true' love. But that's the point of opposites - they have a tendency to
end up being exactly that. That's the real tragedy here. The real tragedy of
love.
It's the first Great film of 2011. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll
want to fall in love. And then you'll wanna run screaming the other way.
And
then run back again of course!
originally published on Flixter February 2011
Showing posts with label Michelle Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michelle Williams. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Friday, October 22, 2010
Forgiving a Cinephile's Indulgence is Easy
Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese)
From the opening sequence on the boat, where the two leads meet, seemingly for the first time, I knew with very little doubt where this story was leading. I think anyone with a passing interest or familiarity with this kind of genre will do. If you haven't within the first half hour then you really do need to get out more!
But predictability of plot strands is maybe not the be-all and end-all of what is at play here. This is Marty for God's sake! Every cinephile's favourite cinephile.
Just as with Vertigo, the twist is almost an irrelevance (it's why Hitch gave it all away half-way through) and you follow the story with this in mind so that it then becomes a different story entirely. Of course 'Shutter Island' is no masterpiece of cinema to compare with 'Vertigo' but it's a lot more fun than the naysayers missing the point would have us believe.
About three quarters the way through 'Shutter Island', one of the patients of the asylum informs our hero, "this is a game and it's all for you". Just as Leo's opener, "Pull yourself together" is the film's most winkingly obvious clue to its audience, this line is equally conceited and knowing and is most assuredly the film's catchphrase. Someone is certainly smacking their lips here.
The story is a real hodge-podge piece of cod-psychology and gothic hokum gone literally over the hill and so far away with the fairies that we can only try our best to keep up. In the hands of cinephile Martin Scorcese, who seems here to have become something of a gleeful plunderer of all we know and love, the film becomes something - to put it mildly - akin to an insane pastiche/homage to every noir pulp, B movie, Hitchcock or Stephen King horror there ever was. As he piles cliche atop of cliche, as glaring continuity errors jump out the screen and the caricatures jostle for centre-stage, it brings out the cynic in much of its audience - woe betide anyone not sneering at this potboiler's over-ripe melodramatics and blindingly obvious 'twist'.
So, cry "rip off!" if you want to be thick. Groan and roll your eyes at the twist if you want to miss the point. Sit with your arms folded and remain pursed-lipped if you want to be humourless. But I defy you to turn away.
Don't sneer. Just give in! If you don't then it really is your loss because this is one marvelous piece of work. A real one-off that treads that very thin line between screaming camp and utter palm-sweating jaw-dropping cinematic insanity.
Just go with it! Enjoy the over-familiarity. Snigger slightly at the melodramatic set-pieces, as the rain lashes down and trees are toppled and eyes roll and jaws drop (ours as much as those on screen!). Take pride in your knowledge of all that's being referenced. Wonder at the rich cinematography, the juicy cameos from Max von Sydow and Patricia Clarkson, the elaborate and very improbable sets, the bleak landscapes. Let your skin tingle at the incredible soundtrack - a rich musical assemblage that includes Penderecki, Ingram Marshall, Mahler, John Cage and Schnittke (it really is great!).
Yes it's a mess. Yes it's utterly flawed. Yes the 'twist' is (intentionally) reduntant. But it's not boring for a single second and, from a cinephile perspective, is possibly the most fun I've had in the cinema since 'Basic Instinct'!
From the opening sequence on the boat, where the two leads meet, seemingly for the first time, I knew with very little doubt where this story was leading. I think anyone with a passing interest or familiarity with this kind of genre will do. If you haven't within the first half hour then you really do need to get out more!
But predictability of plot strands is maybe not the be-all and end-all of what is at play here. This is Marty for God's sake! Every cinephile's favourite cinephile.
Just as with Vertigo, the twist is almost an irrelevance (it's why Hitch gave it all away half-way through) and you follow the story with this in mind so that it then becomes a different story entirely. Of course 'Shutter Island' is no masterpiece of cinema to compare with 'Vertigo' but it's a lot more fun than the naysayers missing the point would have us believe.
About three quarters the way through 'Shutter Island', one of the patients of the asylum informs our hero, "this is a game and it's all for you". Just as Leo's opener, "Pull yourself together" is the film's most winkingly obvious clue to its audience, this line is equally conceited and knowing and is most assuredly the film's catchphrase. Someone is certainly smacking their lips here.
The story is a real hodge-podge piece of cod-psychology and gothic hokum gone literally over the hill and so far away with the fairies that we can only try our best to keep up. In the hands of cinephile Martin Scorcese, who seems here to have become something of a gleeful plunderer of all we know and love, the film becomes something - to put it mildly - akin to an insane pastiche/homage to every noir pulp, B movie, Hitchcock or Stephen King horror there ever was. As he piles cliche atop of cliche, as glaring continuity errors jump out the screen and the caricatures jostle for centre-stage, it brings out the cynic in much of its audience - woe betide anyone not sneering at this potboiler's over-ripe melodramatics and blindingly obvious 'twist'.
So, cry "rip off!" if you want to be thick. Groan and roll your eyes at the twist if you want to miss the point. Sit with your arms folded and remain pursed-lipped if you want to be humourless. But I defy you to turn away.
Don't sneer. Just give in! If you don't then it really is your loss because this is one marvelous piece of work. A real one-off that treads that very thin line between screaming camp and utter palm-sweating jaw-dropping cinematic insanity.
Just go with it! Enjoy the over-familiarity. Snigger slightly at the melodramatic set-pieces, as the rain lashes down and trees are toppled and eyes roll and jaws drop (ours as much as those on screen!). Take pride in your knowledge of all that's being referenced. Wonder at the rich cinematography, the juicy cameos from Max von Sydow and Patricia Clarkson, the elaborate and very improbable sets, the bleak landscapes. Let your skin tingle at the incredible soundtrack - a rich musical assemblage that includes Penderecki, Ingram Marshall, Mahler, John Cage and Schnittke (it really is great!).
Yes it's a mess. Yes it's utterly flawed. Yes the 'twist' is (intentionally) reduntant. But it's not boring for a single second and, from a cinephile perspective, is possibly the most fun I've had in the cinema since 'Basic Instinct'!
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