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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
BLUE VALENTINE The natural decay of a love affair, with no discernable conflict to peg it on, can be more plaintive than the most melodramatic betrayal. Blue Valentine is the story of one such entropic relationship, and its undoing is documented fearlessly, without insight or explanation. For director Derek Cianfrance, it seems that a look of distaste between a husband and wife is more telling than the circumstances that might have caused it. The film opens on a tired couple several years into their marriage. Dean (Ryan Gosling) sports a budding beer belly and a receding hairline while Cindy (Michelle Williams) wears her fatigue in her listless eyes. Dean, a happily employed house painter, has no greater ambition than to drink beer and loll around the house with his beloved six-year-old daughter while Cindy plays the bread winner. It’s not exactly a failing relationship, not yet at least. Dean’s love for their little girl seems strong and beautiful enough to bind this family for eternity. But as the film flashes back in time to reconstruct the meteoric beginnings of their relationship, built on love-at-first-sight and happenstance, each subsequent return to the drab present magnifies the cracks in their affection. In the glut of “raw” and “honest” films these days that try to discover something essential about life through the most minimal narrative possible, this indie iteration distinguishes itself by the strength of the characters. We aren’t just watching pained, quiet scenes in which not much happens. We are watching pained, quiet scenes in which not much happens while the characters miraculously fill out before us, creating two intensely real people with almost no backstory or elaboration to speak of. This is to the credit of not just two rightfully praised actors, but also of Cianfrance’s unusual directorial style. He forced Gosling and Williams into the roles in the most literal way possible—by having them share a house and a financial allowance in an effort to stir some real, if petty, conflicts into the on-screen affair.
As a result, the acting feels improvised and electric, especially in the
vivid sex scenes which have the rare quality of being explicit but not
exploitative. The only distraction from the credibility of the
characters may be the unyielding charm of Gosling’s character. Through
most of the film, Dean remains the unpolished charmer, the lovable
romantic, brimming with jokes and good intentions. And though it’s
tempting to take his side in the scuttling marriage, it becomes
irrelevant once we realize that both he and Cindy are going down with
the ship.
Yana Litovsky
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