"Dead Man Walking, In The Name Of The Father, Amelie, Guide To Recognising Your Saints, My Summer Of Love and I just saw film Blue Valentine, which I love. I’m about to direct my second short film which I’ve written and directed, I got a grant from the NSW government, and those are just a few of the films that inspire me when I’m doing that. Oh and one of my favourite films of all time is Garden State."
After months of taking the international film festival circuit by storm, indie darling Blue Valentine has finally arrived with its raw, romantic and realistic look at marriage. Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling play a married couple bringing up their daughter in a small American town and like many other couples, the spark has gone out of their relationship. Constantly snapping at each other and feuding over seemingly everything, the couple are teetering on the edge of destruction, despite the occasional redeeming moment. As we grow familiar with the passionless and dry reality of their relationship, we are thrown back in time to the beginning of their love affair.
Dean (Gosling) is a fast-talking 20-something and romantic idealist. Cindy (Williams) is an ambitious nursing student set on becoming a doctor. When their paths cross, Dean is convinced it's love at first sight and we're taken through the beginnings of their sweet, lo-fi courtship and eventual wedding. All the while director Derek Cianfrance continues to shift us forwards and backwards into the present and history of their love. Through this perfectly executed device we see that at the start their passion was red, then their valentine’s blue, by the end of the marriage they were screaming “I hate you''.
Blue Valentine is an achievement for Gosling and Williams, who not only carry the film on their shoulders with superb performances, but also serve as executive producers. Despite both having found initial mainstream success, these two actors have committed themselves to American independent cinema, Gosling with films like Half Nelson and Lars and The Real Girl and Williams with Wendy and Lucy and Synecdoche, New York. Blue Valentine bears the fruits of their labour, as Williams' vulnerable, defeated and at times dispassionate portrayal of a woman at the end of love and Gosling's charming, hilarious, desperate and infuriating performance as a man trying desperately to hold on to his family should see them both receive their second Oscar nominations.
Writer/director Cianfrance has crafted a relationship drama that leaves nothing to the imagination, equally depicting the high high's and the low low's of this contemporary couple. There's no Hollywood gloss here; as he seeks to portray everything just as it is and with confronting realism at times. A gorgeous scene where Cindy tap dances and Dean sings and plays his ukulele on the street not only utilises the unusual musical talents of Gosling (best seen in his band Dead Man's Bones) but also the subtle charm of Williams. Throw that against a physically and emotionally confronting sex scene in the present or a spat in Cindy's workplace and Cianfrance manages to make a film that is equal parts beautiful and heartbreaking.
Blue Valentine opens Thursday, January 13.
Tis’ the season for two awesome film festivals within a ridiculously close distance to me. While the Gold Coast Film Festival kicks off tomorrow night, the Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) got a rockin’ when it opened on the weekend. There is seriously a colossal collection of international, Aussie, foreign language and classic flicks playing and I will mention only a few here.
A major highlight for me is the film that took this year's Sundance by storm - Blue Valentine (above). The low-budget indie flick stars Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling as a dysfunctional married couple and features a score by indie rock favourites Grizzly Bear. There’s a meaty line-up of Australia features in store including shark thriller The Reef and Red Hill, starring True Blood hunk Ryan Kwanten, Claire van der Boom and Steve Bisley. Kwanten and writer/director Patrick Hughes will introduce the film and I will be interviewing them on Friday so stay peeled.
Other flicks include the shock hit from Cannes, Leap Year, Venice Film Festival award-winner Life During Wartime, political thriller Fair Game starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, gay romantic comedy I Love You Phillip Morris with Jim Carey and Ewan McGregor and the acclaimed Welcome To The Rileys starring Kristen Stewart and The Sopranos James Gandolfini.
Going out with a bang, BIFF wraps up on Sunday, November 14 with animated kids flick Megamind, the legendary John Woo's latest actioner Reign Of Assassins and Sofia Coppola's charming Somewhere.
For the full BIFF line-up, ticket prices and session times visit HERE
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