True Romance..?

Originally due to shoot in 2008, the filming of Blue Valentine was delayed due to the death of Heath Ledger. Filming took place in Brooklyn, New York and stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. The main attention grabber for the film was hype generated by the NC-17 rating given for release in American cinemas. Changed through appeal the old no such thing as bad press adage has been well applied.

The story follows the tribulations of a young couple falling in, and subsequently out of, love. Removal man Dean pursues the unrealistically sought after student Cindy and cannot be deterred by pregnancy or beating. The story you expect to shift from bliss to misery never really reaches the heights of bliss as the undertones of the film are relatively desperate. From meeting to marriage the couples encounters, although realistic, are not particularly heart-warming save for the stand out scene that sees Dean serenade the dancing Cindy on his old ukulele.

There are two musical elements that are intrinsic to Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine. The first is the title shared with the 1978 Tom Waits album containing classics Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis and Kentucky Avenue.The second was less obvious but lies within the narrative of the film. If protagonist Dean had debts that no honest man could pay we would have the on-screen projection of the pertinent storyline apparent throughout the work of Bruce Springsteen. The problem is that the film does not live up to the promise offered by connections with these two artists.

Dean is an honest man trying to make an honest living but that's not enough to maintain an ultimately antique relationship. It seems that we follow our parents and as such replicate their (un)successful attempts at love and marriage. Are those who come from a broken home ultimately destined to create the same for their children and is this lesson learned of our parents suffering? Shall we abandon ship before it is too late? In Blue Valentine we do.

The narrative problems are caused in part by the manner in which the story is told as we jump from meeting to greetin' (crying if you are not Scottish) and back again. This serves to break the story and contributes to the problem that I never believed that Cindy loved Dean.. she settled for the best offer available.

I feel like men are more romantic than women. When we get married we marry, like, one girl, 'cause we're resistant the whole way until we meet one girl and we think I'd be an idiot if I didn't marry this girl she's so great. But it seems like girls get to a place where they just kinda pick the best option... 'Oh he's got a good job.' I mean they spend their whole life looking for Prince Charming and then they marry the guy who's got a good job and is gonna stick around.

Throughout the film I never doubted that Dean was honest in his intentions however the relationship built between the two main characters of 500 Days of Summer (2009) for example, is never replicated in Blue Valentine. This results in the dissolution of the relationship having less of an impact on the viewer. Honestly, Cindy's happiness is of no concern to me come the end of the film and the painter's efforts to reconcile with the newly redundant nurse are obviously vain form the outset.  The film is not without redemption and Gosling's performance is particularly good. The overall sense is one of unreached potential rather than overall disappointment.

Official Site - www.bluevalentinemovie.com