Can We Take a Moment to Remember How Blue Valentine is Still Devastating?

Few spoilers in this post, but I imagine most of you should have seen it back in 2011. If you haven't, grab the tissues and come back later.

Did you know that the most fun thing you can do on a Sunday afternoon before you go to work is rewatch Blue Valentine and spend a good 20 minutes crying over it?

Didn't know that valuable information? Well I can 100% confirm that while rewatching Blue Valentine may not be the most happy experience, it is an experience nonetheless.

A little bit of context: I first watched Blue Valentine when it first came out on DVD in July 2011, when I was a tiny 15 year old enjoying the last days of illegally watching R16s. I have not been able to go back to it since. Until there came a Sunday when I thought: "I've got a couple of hours to kill, let's watch the most depressing film in my collection this side of Revolutionary Road."

Apparently I didn't really remember the magnitude of absolute earth-shattering devastation that this film brought to my world. Or I was watching it with different eyes when I was 15. But holy heck is this film depressing.

One thing that really took me by surprise this time around was the way Derek Cianfrance loves playing with his narratives. One of my favourite films from last year was his sophomore effort The Place Beyond the Pines. Here was a film that easily could have been split into three parts, yet he expanded his narrative beyond what he could have. He didn't only show the cause, but also showed the effect. I talk about this a lot more in my review of the film from last year, but to put it simply: I really admire Cianfrance's ambition. We're too often brushing simple narrative ambition under the rug for the more complex, confusing narratives drawing in a plethora of realms (however, that does make for some damn good cinema when it's done right).

Ambition, but Not the 'Gravity' Kind: Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond the Pines

The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) / US / Out on DVD now / Directed By Derek Cianfrance / Written by Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio and Darius Marder / Starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Dane DeHaan, Emory Cohen, Rose Byrne

A long while ago, when I was a young, precocious and naive girl filled with a fanciful imagination, I used to think up movies in my head. They'd end up getting far too complex and ambitious, and then I'd flag that possible masterpiece, and move on to the next creation. They weren't complex in the way that say, Inception is complex. They were complex in the way that they were essentially three or four movies in one, connected by the tiniest of threads.

When I sat down to watch Derek Cianfrance's sophomore effort The Place Beyond the Pines, I was prepared for this movie where Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper would face off for, you know, the entire movie. Alas, The Place Beyond the Pines instantly reminded me of the movies I used to work tirelessly on in my brain - and this is not at all a bad thing. It is the kind of film that is thorough in its complexity, sometimes to a fault. This is not the sort of film where Ryan Gosling plays the tattooed rebel and Bradley Cooper plays the cop trying to bring him down. It is about much, much more than that.

12 Performances from 3 People Born on November 12th: Grace Kelly, Ryan Gosling and Anne Hathaway

TThis is my third birthday post in the past week, and that's not because I'm running out of things to talk about. It just seems that November was a good time to have talented babies, and it would also seem that the 12th was an especially good day to have talented babies. On this day in 1929, Grace Kelly, later known as Princess Grace of Monaco, was born. On this day in 1980, Ryan 'Hey Girl' Gosling was born. On this day in 1982, Anne Hathaway, a.k.a. the sweetest person on Earth, was born. And I didn't know who to focus on, considering they're all my favourite people, so I just decided I'd focus on them all. What follows is my four favourite performances from the three of them, which adds up to 12 performances because, y'know, it is the 12th. And because doing ten performances from each would have been extremely tiring.

Grace Kelly is a woman who I know a lot about - much like I did with Vivien Leigh, I got obsessed and read a whole lot of biographies because I used to have a lot of spare time. Grace did live an interesting, somewhat short life. She rose to fame as a movie star after her debut in 1951's Fourteen Hours. Her breakthrough, however, was the western High Noon, which she co-starred in with Gary Cooper. In terms of her film career, she is best known for being a Hitchcock blonde - Hitchcock himself said that she was her favourite - in Dial M for Murder, Rear Window and To Catch a Thief. In 1956 she left Hollywood to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco. She was going to return to acting in 1982, but unfortunately she died in a car accident that year. She was only 52 years old. My favourite performances of hers, in chronological order, are:

In High Noon, Grace plays Amy Fowler Kane, the young Quaker wife of Gary Cooper. The role isn't an extremely demanding one as the film mainly follows Gary Cooper, but when she shows up, she brings such intense vulnerability and youth to her role. And it's impossible to take your eyes off her. Interestingly enough, even though I wasn't so hot on westerns when I watched this one four and a half years ago, I was particularly taken by this tale of the rise and fall of a village. Now it is known as one of the best westerns ever made, but back in the day, the reception wasn't so great. I think it has survived pretty darn well.

Dirty, Sexy Politics.

Film: The Ides of March
Year: 2011
Director: George Clooney
Written by: George Clooney, Grant Heslov & Beau Willimon, based on the play 'Farragut North' by Beau Willimon.
Starring: Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Max Minghella, Jennifer Ehle.
Running time: 101 min.

Politics. They're one thing that I should have a strong stance on, but every time I hear about them, my brain switches off. I'm sure they're really interesting and all, but the only thing I think about before my brain switches off is how our government thinks it is okay to take money out of the education system, and they wonder why nothing good ever comes out of this place. It just confuses the crap out of me. One thing that confuses me even more is the way that American politics work. I could not tell you the first thing about American politics. So I guess that makes it seem like The Ides of March, George Clooney's latest directorial effort which is all about a presidential candidate's campaign trail, would not be a very good film for me. Admittedly, a bit of Ryan Gosling eased me into things, but The Ides of March was enough to not only get me a little more interested in the ins and outs of politics (only a little, though), but my eyes were opened to the stuff that may or may not be happening behind these smooth talking hot-shots who claim to have the right stuff for running a country.

Some Heroes Are Real.

Film: Drive
Year: 2011
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Written by: Hossein Amini
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Kaden Leos, Russ Tamblyn.
Running time: 100 min.


With a title like Drive, you'd instantly expect it to be filled with car chases which coincidentally have guns involved and then the cars explode and this is what we call entertainment. Some lady thought that and went as far as to sue the makers because it wasn't like Fast & Furious. She is silly. Drive is the kind of movie that happens slowly, yet realistically. You don't expect one person to possibly go through lots of car chases and explosions just because they're mildly talented at driving a car, right? No. Drive follows the unnamed Driver (Ryan Gosling), who is a Hollywood stunt driver by day, and moonlighting as a getaway driver for robberies by night. He falls for his neighbour, Irene (Carey Mulligan), who has a son and a husband in jail. Her husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac) gets out of jail, and it turns out that trouble has followed him so he asks the Driver to help him out with a routine robbery. As it goes wrong, the Driver discovers that there's a bag of money at stake and there are some gangsters after Irene and her son, who the Driver is keen to protect.

Cinema - Crazy, Stupid, Love.

There were four trailers played before I saw Crazy, Stupid, Love. The first was one for an upcoming Anna Faris comedy called What's Your Number? which looks devastatingly obvious. I'd be surprised if Faris' character doesn't end up getting with Chris Evans' character, even if she has to look back through all of her ex's to realise that he is the one. After that came Friends with Benefits, which of course has already been released in the US to mediocre reviews...but we all saw this movie in No Strings Attached, right? The next one, Abduction, was just a random one to show us that no matter how hard he tries, Taylor Lautner will always be a brooding teenager. Then came along New Year's Eve, which is along the same lines as Valentine's Day - meaning that not only does it have the same director, it will also have the same ill-attempted twists and eventual cliches in every story. You see, what the rom-com genre has become is a web of cliches and predictability, because there are only so many ways that a love story can go.

However, with Crazy, Stupid, Love, the movie doesn't try to do five hundred things at once, ending up in a big hot mess of stereotypical soup. Nor does it just focus on two people going through something as hard as love. Instead, the film has a few stories, which are given the right amount of attention, and have a few twists here and there which can't be seen from a mile away. It all starts with Cal Weaver (Steve Carell), a lovable schlub who has been married to Emily (Julianne Moore) for 25 years - but she has decided that she wants a divorce because she slept with colleague David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon). Cal, now all alone and on the verge of depression, spends his nights at a bar telling everyone the story of how his wife cheated on him. Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling), an impeccably dressed ladies-man, notices Cal and decides to teach him how to 'embrace his manhood'. Now we have Cal Weaver, on the brink of divorce, dressing like he actually should, becoming a bit of a ladies man himself. Just as Cal becomes a master of winning women, Jacob meets the lovely Hannah (Emma Stone), who he actually falls in love with - as opposed to just taking her home for one night. And then there's also the story of Cal and Emily's 13 year old son Robbie (Jonah Bobo), who happens to be in love with his 17 year old babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton)...and he's never giving up on trying to win her over.

The best thing that Crazy, Stupid, Love has going for it is the fact that the several stories within the film are finely balanced and they each run a lot closer together than it would appear. Along with that, the film manages to recycle ideas, but make them look as good as new. Not only do they look new, they also become painfully real. Crazy, Stupid, Love knows that it is about finding love and being in a relationship...all that kind of stuff. But it doesn't spend time trying to make any single people jealous by watching people be cute together. Instead, it just draws you into what it's like to find love/fall out of love/be in a relationship. Which is cool, because in each story there is a phase of a person's romantic life: first crush/unrequited love, bad break-up, finding 'the one'. The way each of these phases intertwine and cross paths which each other is something which I thought was pretty cool. Needless to say, in a world where 90% of romantic comedies suck, this one doesn't.

Half of Crazy, Stupid, Love's success can be attributed to it's enormously talented cast. There's Steve Carell, in Date Night mode...except swapping the stupidity for a little bit of sadness. Ryan Gosling, the man of the moment, shows that he can do comedy. The only problem I had with him in this film was the fact that I kept comparing him to how he was in Blue Valentine. That's not a good idea. Julianne Moore is as good as she always is, being as radiant as ever. Emma Stone is a little cutie pie, again showing off the natural humour and charm that she put to good use in Easy A, just in reduced amounts. Marisa Tomei is a standout, playing the crazy five-years-sober teacher. She has some very fine moments, given the amount of opportunity she has to make people laugh. Young Jonah Bobo does a pretty convincing job as a lovelorn boy who is both misunderstood and misinformed. As for Kevin Bacon...well, everyone seems to hate Kevin Bacon these days.

If there is something that I didn't like about Crazy, Stupid, Love, it would have to be that the film's tone was pretty uneven. Other than that, I found this movie pretty darn enjoyable...it would be the perfect date movie, if I had a date. I was in absolute hysterics at one point (if you've seen the film, you probably know which scene I'm talking about). Hey, romantic comedies don't have to be all bad. What's Your Number?, Friends with Benefits, New Year's Eve and...uh, Abduction: I know it's too late, but take note for next time.

THE VERDICT: Crazy, Stupid, Love is a perfectly sweet and funny romantic comedy that doesn't let predictability stop it from achieving almost greatness - and the cast is pretty cool, too.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

DVD - Blue Valentine

Note: I was going to do a review on the X-Men trilogy tonight, but I changed my mind after watching Blue Valentine last night. Seriously, I've been chomping at the bit to do this review all day.

When I was young, I was always under the impression that I'd grow up, get a really good job, fall in love, get married and have children. It was that simple. Those thoughts were often surrounded by beautiful colours, fountains of hearts and any other form of happiness. But as time has gone by, that dream is slowly becoming dimmer. I don't know whether it comes from the fact that I've realised just how much cynicism there is in the work, or the fact that my parents don't live together anymore...or maybe it's just that I watch too many movies about marriages. I think most of those movies do sugarcoat married life a bit, though. However, watching Blue Valentine completely made my dream the darkest it has ever been. Yes, the film was a little too close to home, which made it all the more depressing, but seriously? I never want to fall in love now, for the fear of falling out of love when it's really just too late.

The tagline for Blue Valentine was simply "A Love Story". To a degree, that is true. Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) were once in love, which led them to get married and have a gorgeous daughter, Frankie (Faith Wladyka). Their love story would have been good on it's own, and would have made for a just about perfect chick flick of some sort. However, woven into their happy love story is a weekend in the distant future which visits Dean and Cindy, now just your average married couple, struggling to stay together. Dean hasn't changed much, but Cindy appears to be worn out - which is probably the result of Dean's slight immaturity and trying to juggle work and being a mother at the same time. So really, this film is about what happens after all of the romance and fireworks.

If this film was in chronological order, then it probably wouldn't have hit as hard. Having the two time periods cutting into each other is just like watching positivity fight negativity, with the latter always ending up on top. That's not to say that this movie is always depressing. There are some genuinely sweet moments, like the tap-dancing/ukelele scene between Dean and Cindy in their early days. Even during the later days, it's kinda funny seeing the pair in that slightly strange 'futuristic' hotel room, trying to reignite their relationship. There's a slight goofiness in what Derek Cianfrance is trying to achieve - it may not be fully realised, but you can see this coy attempt at a cheesy rom-com subtly coming through. But you've really got to hand it to Cianfrance, because when most people make a movie that they want to hit the audience really hard with, they decide to make it the most depressing experience ever. With it's slight sense of humour, it's a lot easier to believe Blue Valentine and it becomes more realistic. Sometimes directors just want you to feel really miserable, but Cianfrance wants you to feel for these miserable people.

The cross-cutting technique is used to full effect, making this ingeniously depressing. That may be a strange claim to make, but trust me...if the final sequence had been left without it, I probably wouldn't have bawled my eyes out for the rest of the night. The way Cianfrance mixes the scenes, so they each contradict each other, is pure genius. As I said, this film is like watching what happens after all of the romance and fireworks. You just get a better idea of the 'before' and 'after', which definitely does make it all the more depressing. Ingeniously depressing, to put it correctly...you can quote me in the future.

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are also ingeniously depressing. They simply are Dean and Cindy. Is it possible to get better young actors than these two? How Gosling got ignored by the Academy for his performance here is beyond me. He's the picture of masculinity which meets naivety and immaturity. He's a romantic who was unfortunately very easy to get tired of. Gosling just gave it everything he had, and this confirms for me that he might just be one of the best young actors working today. Michelle Williams, who was recognised by the Academy for her work, is every inch a winner with her performance. She plays a damaged character so well, and even manages to get a bit of sympathy even though her character is probably the evil force driving her relationship apart. Together, you forget that they are acting. They are so great together that you feel every twang of pain when an insult is hurled, every throb of happiness which comes with a compliment, and you feel like your world has fallen apart at the end, thanks to Gosling and Williams.

Yes, Blue Valentine is extremely hard to watch. But I feel as if a movie hasn't fully rewarded me if I don't feel completely involved with the characters, to the point that I am probably in tears at the end. Let's just say, this movie was definitely rewarding. The credits were made with colourful fireworks, which pretty much summed up my happiness with this movie. I'm happy for the way it turned out, and I'm happy about how much I liked it. I don't want to overrate it, but this is definitely the best movie I have seen this year, so far.

THE VERDICT: Derek Cianfrance has created a movie which is raw and realistic, moving and depressing. The performance from Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are simply perfect, adding more fuel to the fire.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

Top 10 Oscar fails in 2011

The Oscars decided that they wouldn’t be the same as everyone else, and decided to snub deserving people left right and centre. You know what the number one snub is going to be here, but there are nine more reasons as to why the Oscars got it wrooooong.


10. Best Actor: Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine

I haven’t seen Blue Valentine, but I find it extremely disappointing that the Academy decided not to nominate Ryan Gosling for his performance or for anything other than Michelle Williams in the Best Actress category. I would have thought that it was one of those ‘nominate one, nominate the other’ kind of deals, but not to be. His spot was taken by Javier Bardem for his turn in Biutiful, which was a bit of a surprise, seeing as he hadn’t been nominated anywhere else but the BAFTAs.

9. Best Original Screenplay: Animal Kingdom – David Michôd

So this wasn’t nominated in many other places, but in my opinion, it should have been somewhere. It’s just a little sad that this film only came away with one nomination, seeing at it is one of the best reviewed movies of the years. Must be a case of ‘it’s Australian, who cares’. Hey, I’m a New Zealander, and I rustled up the energy to care about this movie. The screenplay for this movie was pretty darn good with its structure and plot, especially considering the fact that this was a debut feature for Michôd.

8. Best Animated Feature: Tangled

I guess this one goes for Despicable Me as well. Just because they aren’t as great as Toy Story 3 doesn’t mean they should have been forgotten. Tangled is the standard in animation, and it should at least be recognized for the amazing visuals and happiness it provides. Then again, with Toy Story 3 shaping up to be The Social Network of the animated feature category, it doesn’t really matter what else is nominated.

7. Best Supporting Actress: Barbara Hershey – Black Swan

I think anyone who has seen Black Swan would agree with me: Barbara Hershey is one scary mamma. Did anyone think that she was like Margaret White in Carrie? Black Swan is such a well acted film, so it is a little strange that it only got one acting nom (which will probably win). Hershey deserved the nomination, even if she only got a BAFTA nom along the way. No wonder Nina was such a damaged soul.

6. Best Visual Effects: TRON: Legacy

Didn’t this seem like a no-brainer? The effects were pretty much the only things that made TRON: Legacy worth sitting through, and to be honest, they were pretty darn good visual effects. Somehow, Iron Man 2 managed to sneak through (what the hell?). A movie which houses a young Jeff Bridges and an old Jeff Bridges (neither of which actually look like normal Jeff Bridges), more lights than the world knowingly has and some amazing set pieces surely deserves an Oscar nomination in this category, no?

5. Best Editing: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

You know how hard it is to put up a sign saying that Salt is ‘nominated for an Oscar’ but end up putting nothing by Scott Pilgrim vs. the World? Take a second to imagine the poor editor who had to go through that movie. They had to add all of those extra effects on screen making the movie as kick-ass as it was. Yet, no recognition. Jeez, if I had it my way I would nominate this movie in every bloody category. But I guess the Academy aren’t ‘cool’ enough for this movie. Prepare to die, obviously.

4. Best Supporting Actress: Mila Kunis – Black Swan

I was really disappointed when I saw that Mila Kunis wasn’t nominated. Come on, she totally owned on screen. While it was all Natalie Portman’s film, Mila too went through hell for this movie (dislocated shoulder, two torn calf ligaments...). She also got a Golden Globe and a SAG nomination. She’s also got a movie about a casual relationship coming out this year. So why no love for her, Academy? You disappoint me.

3. Best Editing: Inception

This really seemed like a no brainer. When you have to edit through all those different layers and put them together so they all make sense, then you should get some recognition. The editing in Inception should not have only been nominated, but it should have won. Anyone that edits a Nolan film should win.

2. Best Supporting Actor: Andrew Garfield – The Social Network

There was a small part of me that could see this coming (as the missing SAG nom probably harmed his chances), but ANDREW GARFIELD SHOULD HAVE BEEN BLOODY NOMINATED! In such a well-acted film, nominating just Jesse Eisenberg makes it seem like he is the only reason to go and watch the film. He is not. ANDREW GARFIELD IS THERE TOO! And, to be quite frank, Andrew has probably the biggest future ahead of him after this movie. He was the one that everyone put on their list as the ‘top rising star of 2010’. So why wasn’t he nominated? WHY?! I still love you, Andrew. Academy, you better lawyer up, assholes, because he's not coming back for just a nomination...he is coming back for everything!

1. Best Director: Christopher Nolan – Inception

WHAT. THE. HELL. So, you’ve probably read my rant or whatever, and now you probably think I’m crazy. But you don’t just not nominate Christopher Nolan and expect to get away with it. You don’t just nominate him in every other award show but not at the Oscars. You don’t just ignore him for The Dark Knight and then ignore him for Inception. You don’t just hate on Nolan, full stop. He is amazing (in my eyes, at least). To be honest, he doesn’t need a fancy Oscar nomination to prove that. It’s just a nice thought.