Blue Valentine: A Magical and Disturbing Love Drama
| Overall Rating = 4.75 Stars of 5 Stars |
When love whisks you to magical heights of passion, there exists the potential that when the magic dies, you may fall to the lowest lows—and so it is with each of the ill-fated lovers in Blue Valentine. Happy-go-lucky Dean (Ryan Gosling) convinces her go-getting wife Cindy (Michelle Williams) to go on a romantic evening, which he expects will reignite the passion of their failing relationship. A series of flashbacks paralleling the evening’s events shows us the sweetness of their charming courtship, the hopeful prospects of their young marriage, and the explosive obsession/revulsion dynamic into which their tired relationship descends. Dean desperately believes their special night can unleash their trapped affections.
Blue Valentine depicts the extreme poles of love, the kind of love that hurts to the core: the anticipation, the longing, the giddiness and surprise of fledgling love to the anger, recriminations, self pity, and regrets that makes a lover want to rip out his heart and slip into the solace of numbness. For Dean, the obstinate romantic, the end of their relationship means the loss his very identity. For the now pragmatic Cindy, ending their dysfunctional marriage may be the only way to salvage her sanity.
For those of you who are looking for a simple romantic date comedy: Beware! In Blue Valentine, film director Derek Cianfrance weaves a serious and disturbing adult love story which captures the delightfully spontaneous moments of love gone goo-goo gaga as well as the despair of love gone awry. The powerful chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams infuse this drama with an intimacy and sensuality that charges the screen. Both of these sincere performances are award worthy.
Blue Valentine at its heights is enchanting and, at its lows, emotionally destructive. Blue Valentine is an aptly named drama that tilts the needle of the love meter to 4.75 stars out of 5 stars.
Blue Valentine depicts the extreme poles of love, the kind of love that hurts to the core: the anticipation, the longing, the giddiness and surprise of fledgling love to the anger, recriminations, self pity, and regrets that makes a lover want to rip out his heart and slip into the solace of numbness. For Dean, the obstinate romantic, the end of their relationship means the loss his very identity. For the now pragmatic Cindy, ending their dysfunctional marriage may be the only way to salvage her sanity.
For those of you who are looking for a simple romantic date comedy: Beware! In Blue Valentine, film director Derek Cianfrance weaves a serious and disturbing adult love story which captures the delightfully spontaneous moments of love gone goo-goo gaga as well as the despair of love gone awry. The powerful chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams infuse this drama with an intimacy and sensuality that charges the screen. Both of these sincere performances are award worthy.
Blue Valentine at its heights is enchanting and, at its lows, emotionally destructive. Blue Valentine is an aptly named drama that tilts the needle of the love meter to 4.75 stars out of 5 stars.
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