Blue Valentine (2010)

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams

Director: Derek Cianfrance

The Lowdown: A fly on the wall view of the life of a married couple Dean and Cindy (Gosling, Williams) that alternates between two time periods: the time during which they first fell in love and the two day period over which it all seems to fall apart.

My Take:
There are tons of movies that come out  every year that try oh-so-hard to be real and relate-able, and touch audiences. Its very rare that any of these films actually manage to strike a chord with their audience, and there are even fewer that are actually downright moving.

Blue Valentine is such a picture. Derek Cianfrance has crafted a superb second feature that indicates that given the right funding and the right actors, as he was in this case, he could easily go on to be an indie force to be reckoned with. The unique way in which he tells his story, filming each time period with a different camera, gives them each their own distinct look as if they are scenes from two different films.

This brilliant visualization beautifully mirrors the lead performances from Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. The two characters embodied by them seem to be entirely different people in each period because of how much these two must have transformed in the interim. It's this obvious transformation that makes the flashbacks all the more heartbreaking. These flashbacks seem to occasionally give us relief from the more intense and dark present storyline; on the contrary, it makes the past  a dark layer of sadness because we as an audience know something that the couple does not. We know even before the first flashback that the relationship is doomed.

The present storyline however has no delusions of happiness. No, this is long after the honeymoon has already past and this couple's love is practically on its last leg. As Dean and Cindy slowly begin to realize the hopelessness of rekindling the romance, the film becomes increasingly more difficult to watch. As these characters' inhibitions fall to the wayside Gosling and Williams easily slide into the darker, nastier side of their personalities. At the same time, no matter how awful the things these characters say to each other are it's impossible to hate either one of them. The flashbacks do have a hand in this yes, but it's ultimately Williams and Gosling's acting that manages to give them both a sad humanity that's hard not to sympathize with.

Similarly, the film itself casts neither as the "bad guy" in the marriage, it takes no dramatic shortcuts to ensure the marriage's dissolution, there are no affairs or deep dark secrets. Its simply a case of a relationship that simply has no life left in it because two flawed people who once loved each other so deeply simply can not do it anymore. Its the very idea that a relationship can die over time as easily as it began that makes "Blue Valentine" such an uncomfortable film for some. You don't want to, but you can see bits and pieces of yourself in these characters. Its exactly because of that authentic human element that "Blue Valentine" sucks you in and doesn't let go.

Best Moment: The final scene is a tour de force of terrific acting and pitch perfect editing that exquisitely juxtaposes two crucial moments and builds to a heartbreaking conclusion.

In Short: It's a sad, often brutally honest and unflinchingly real film, but "Blue Valentine" is driven by a terrific screenplay and perfect performances that make this incredibly raw and human drama one of the top 5 films of 2010.

10 out of 10