Blue Valentine

[a_person]

Gee, I must have completely slept through the funny bits!

[kevinknapman]

Saw it this morning with my Times/Cineworld voucher at the dreaded screen 2 at the Haymarket.

Easily the best film I've seen so far this year (though admittedly it's only the 5th film I've seen).
A stunning and quietly devastating film. Impeccably acted and beautifully shot. An impressive look at the beginning and end of a relationship. The decision to intercut them together is an inspired one. Clearly a lot of time was spent getting the order in which to cut back and forth between the two time periods exactly right and it shows (hard to believe anyone would think scenes were put together in no particular order). Exactly at what point and why the relationship soured is irrelevant. I think the structure and tone of the film would have suffered if what happened in the middle was brought into it. The sweetness of the (at times very funny) start to their relationship was made almost unbearably bittersweet by the knowledge that it's doomed to failure at the end.
Both Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling are excellent. Williams portrayal of someone who resents the fact she couldn't realise her ambitions and stop herself repeating her parents mistakes was powerful and works well against Gosling's portrayal of someone who is satisfied with his life and not bothered by his lack of ambition and inability to realise his dreams. This conflict effectively drives the drama in a fairly understated way. Allowing audiences to pick this up as the film goes along instead of spelling things out in capital letters.
For a long time both actors have been doing good work in small modest films and hopefully they'll get a lot of award recognition for this. It's also well worth tracking down Wendy and Lucy (Williams) and Half Nelson (Gosling).
Well scored by Grizzly Bear too. Shame that it was mostly instrumental versions of existing tracks though. Apparently they were planning to do original music but the release date was brought forward and they had to use old tracks. Still fine though.
Though Blue Valentine isn't an easy film to watch and will alienate many with its far from straightforward approach , it's still well worth the effort.

[cheekyweelassie]

I also used my Sunday Times voucher at the Cineworld Haymarket today. What an odd screening room. I perched over on the left and the view was fine.
I really loved this film. I watched it alone and I think it could have been uncomfortable watching it as a couple as it's quite a heartbreaker.
I thought the two main performances were outstanding. I thought he was the more likeable character, but I thought she was trying so hard to be in love and change the pattern of her parents that she was tearing apart and so I did have some sympathy for her too.
I really liked the device of flashbacks, and I didn't get too confused by it. The juxtapositions were poignant and made the present feel even sadder.
I know a lot of people haven't liked this, but I thought it was a realistic story of two ordinary people and their story of falling in and out of love, which is probably the most important story there is.
9/10

[aruif]

I've been meaning to watch this for a year. The lovefilm dvd has been sat waiting for me to watch for over a month. Now i've seen it I'm thinking - wow, what took me so long? It's a great film. I've read good and bad things about it and somehow felt like i didn't need to see it, just that when i could be bothered i would. Totally the wrong attitude to have!

As far as gritty and depressing films go this is one of the best I've seen and it did make me cry and I wasn't expecting that. I kind of didn't really understand how the relationship broke down. I guess it was just that he didn't really change and she did, at least that's what I thought after the first viewing.

I'm going to order this one on DVD now so I can keep it. That's how much I loved it. Even if I am a year late!

[Celini]

I re-re-watched it yesterday too! In my case the BD, so I also watched all the extras, Q&A included; very interesting!

It's not extremely clear in the director cut version, but when you watched the deleted scenes, you kinda understand that there relationship was doomed from the beginning; not her fault, not his fault... argh love

(my definite favourite movie of 2010)

[anakin]

Ooooh, I've just received this from Love Film too! Probably won't watch it for a few days, but really looking forward to it now!

[aruif]

I re-re-watched it yesterday too! In my case the BD, so I also watched all the extras, Q&A included; very interesting!

It's not extremely clear in the director cut version, but when you watched the deleted scenes, you kinda understand that there relationship was doomed from the beginning; not her fault, not his fault... argh love

(my definite favourite movie of 2010)

i'll have to order the bluray then! i do love watching the extras - sometimes more than the film! and yes... love is shit and i've got to the point where unless you're bound to each other because you've become a vampire and thats how that works, then it's not worth it

[Reflections]

Just got this from lovefilm too! It doesnt jump out as a must see film but I'll give it a whirl!

[kevinknapman]

Seeing as this particular film thread has been resurrected here's a shameless link to my DVD review:

http://www.thefilmpilgrim.com/reviews/b ... eview/3496

[aruif]

Seeing as this particular film thread has been resurrected here's a shameless link to my DVD review:

http://www.thefilmpilgrim.com/reviews/b ... eview/3496

not shameless! great review thanks for sharing!