Blue Valentine

Wow.

Blue Valentine (2010)

Once crazy about each other, Cindy (Michelle Williams) and Dean (Ryan Gosling) have now grown apart. Cindy is bored and disenchanted with her life while Dean languishes in the emotional emptiness of their sexless, routine life in rural Pennsylvania. As they muddle through their marriage, they hearken back to the golden days when life was filled with possibility and romance.

You might be thinking to yourself, “jesus that sounds depressing.”  Well, sure, the subject matter was not exactly joyful and, I have to admit, at times I did feel the heaviness of the dissolving relationship.  But the story was so emotionally complex and the film had this really visceral quality to it. 

The way the story rolled out reminded me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in that it started with the stale relationship in the present, but jumped back and forth between that time and the beginning of the relationship several years earlier.  This lent the film a bittersweet quality that gave the audience ample respite from the tragedy of the present relationship.

Michelle Williams gave a fantastic performance, but I have to say that Ryan Gosling was absolutely snubbed by the Academy – he was amazing.  They truly are two talented (and hot) actors.

SEE. IT.