Whether people love Wong Ka-wai's movies for the subtleties they worship or hate them for the same subtleties that they consider to be pretentious, pseudo art, one thing they have to agree on is the aesthetic excellence of these movies. "My blueberry nights" retains all the mesmerizing visual appeal and enchanting mood, but is un-Wong-Ka-wai in being quite mainstream and accessible.
Perhaps not grand enough to be described as an Odyssey type of movie, MBN does have a distinct road movie flavour. There are three stories. Elizabeth (Norah Jones), broken hearted, finds a patient listener, café owner Jeremy (Jude Law) and pours out her heart to him night after night after the café closes, over blueberry pies that he is never able to sell. She then disappears as abruptly as she came, sends him postcards that are sort of a continuation of their nightly conversation which however has become one-way-traffic because try has he does, he can't track her down. Still as abruptly, she comes back one night into his life again, when they find out how much the mean to each other. Curtain.
The debut of singer Norah Jones is well managed. Wisely avoiding overtaxing her unproven acting ability, she has been cast in a role where her girl-next-door look carried a lot, effectively. In a large part of the movie, the two stories during her journey across the US, she plays a bystander-observer type of role. But she should be given credit for capably, if not brilliantly, portraying the metamorphosis of the girl who left lost and broken hearted and returns a "changed" person, confident and ready to embrace love again. There is good chemistry with naturally lovable Jude Law.
It is however the other two stories that snatch the limelight. David Strathairn is a simple, small town cop driven to the brink of breakdown by an unfaithful wife played by Rachel Weisz. Both appear in a persona that you have likely not seen before, nothing unusual as these are professional actors who are expected to be able to delivery any role assigned to them. But if you have seen Strathairn in "Good night and good luck" you know how good he is at doing this when you see him in MBN. It is also a treat to see Weisz playing slut, and a remorseful one to make it even more interesting. But the best is yet to come, particularly for Natalie Portman fans. The gambler, rebellious daughter who deep down loves her father is not a particularly novel character but she does it really well, with a maturity that is quite endearing.
At the end of the day, this is Wong Ka-wai to the bones: every frame is an exquisite colour scheme, dreamy languid music (or at times complete silence) and all the rest of it. But it is also a Wong Ka-wai that is to-date most accessible to the general, non-art-house audience. I thoroughly enjoyed it and did not for a single moment doze off as I did during his other movies.
Perhaps not grand enough to be described as an Odyssey type of movie, MBN does have a distinct road movie flavour. There are three stories. Elizabeth (Norah Jones), broken hearted, finds a patient listener, café owner Jeremy (Jude Law) and pours out her heart to him night after night after the café closes, over blueberry pies that he is never able to sell. She then disappears as abruptly as she came, sends him postcards that are sort of a continuation of their nightly conversation which however has become one-way-traffic because try has he does, he can't track her down. Still as abruptly, she comes back one night into his life again, when they find out how much the mean to each other. Curtain.
The debut of singer Norah Jones is well managed. Wisely avoiding overtaxing her unproven acting ability, she has been cast in a role where her girl-next-door look carried a lot, effectively. In a large part of the movie, the two stories during her journey across the US, she plays a bystander-observer type of role. But she should be given credit for capably, if not brilliantly, portraying the metamorphosis of the girl who left lost and broken hearted and returns a "changed" person, confident and ready to embrace love again. There is good chemistry with naturally lovable Jude Law.
It is however the other two stories that snatch the limelight. David Strathairn is a simple, small town cop driven to the brink of breakdown by an unfaithful wife played by Rachel Weisz. Both appear in a persona that you have likely not seen before, nothing unusual as these are professional actors who are expected to be able to delivery any role assigned to them. But if you have seen Strathairn in "Good night and good luck" you know how good he is at doing this when you see him in MBN. It is also a treat to see Weisz playing slut, and a remorseful one to make it even more interesting. But the best is yet to come, particularly for Natalie Portman fans. The gambler, rebellious daughter who deep down loves her father is not a particularly novel character but she does it really well, with a maturity that is quite endearing.
At the end of the day, this is Wong Ka-wai to the bones: every frame is an exquisite colour scheme, dreamy languid music (or at times complete silence) and all the rest of it. But it is also a Wong Ka-wai that is to-date most accessible to the general, non-art-house audience. I thoroughly enjoyed it and did not for a single moment doze off as I did during his other movies.