It may be blue, but this valentine shines like gold.
Released: 2010
Genre(s): Drama, Romance
There's a lot wrong with the quality of the typical Hollywood romance film these days: unrealistic expectations, cardboard characters, contrived conflict, dumb-as-brick dialogue, and the list goes on and on. It's obviously enough to keep hordes of pent-up housewives and desperate teenage girls with delusions of what a "perfect" relationship is rushing to theaters, but the term "chick flick" does not carry the most positive of connotations, regardless of the financial success of such formulaic and shallow cinematic slop. It's here where "Blue Valentine" truly finds a way to stand out - there aren't any convoluted storylines, forced melodrama, or fairy princess ideals. Instead, we're served the rawest of movies, something that's unrefined and ugly, gritty and in-your-face, and ironically it's because of this that it can be described as genuinely beautiful as well. This film doesn't try to force-feed us someone else's artificial emotions, but lets us feel our own as we watch the powerhouse performances of Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams crackle like lightning across the screen. It's very rare that I see a movie allow its characters to remain this rough around the edges throughout its entirety. The acting here is like a thousand explosive pinball machines lighting up all at once; there's something almost perverse and very powerful about how candid every interaction, every reaction looks and sounds. While this complete lack of sensitivity to our comfort zones may turn off some, compared to the thoughtless, cookie-cutter mentalities of the standard romantic drama, this film is a dose of much needed reality. Just like a real relationship, "Blue Valentine" requires us to compromise and strain a bit to make it through its coarser moments, but the end product is one very rewarding experience.
Rating (out of 5): 4
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