BLUE VALENTINE (Derek Cianfrance). 120 minutes. Opens Friday (January 7). For movie times, theatres, and trailers see Movies. Rating: NNN
There was a helluva hubbub surrounding both the MPAA’s decision to slap Blue Valentine with an unwarranted NC-17 rating and the film’s distributors’ subsequent triumph in overturning that decision. Twitter was ablaze first with outrage and then patting Harvey Weinstein, who was central to the appeal process, on the back.
So audiences are likely going to be surprised that the movie that’s earned so much notoriety is actually very modest, both in its charms and its baby blue content.
It charts the beginning and end of a marriage in heart-aching detail. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams deliver superb, natural performances as the somewhat rough-around-the-edges couple who long ago seemed perfect for each other but can now barely carry on a conversation without breaking a few things.
Derek Cianfrance’s film often feels overly schematic. Its tidy time-jumping structure doesn’t do justice to the messiness of these characters’ lives, and it clouds the spontaneity of their relationship with a pervasive mood of inevitability.
Still, it’s a beautiful romance filled with so many intimate and wistful moments (look out for Williams’s tap dance) that even though you know it will end, you still can’t help but hope otherwise.
