Ryan Gosling & Rooney Mara on the set of Terrence Malick’s Lawless (2012).
![Blue Valentine (Derek Ciafrance, 2010)
I enjoyed Blue Valentine so much more than I thought I would that I’m even willing to say it’s one of my favorite films of 2010. I would write a review but my dear tumblr friend Nathaniel put it better than I ever could - without ripping him off - and although I think I enjoyed the film more than he did, here are excerpts from his review (go read in full!) that sum up very well what I thought of it:
[…] the film works in shifting between the beginning of the relationship and the final days of its ultimate demise. in this, there is a lot of manipulation of the audience and not much in terms of any meaningful relational deterioration, i.e. we never understand what happened, and we are never given the chance to explore the transition on screen. […]
but, for all [its flaws], the film actually accomplished a naturalism and honesty in discussing the inexplicable, destructive forces of love and the painful decline of romantic relations. in fact, in some of its apparent flaws, the film achieves some insight. for example, by omitting any transitional or middle period in the relationship, the film seems to suggest that, sometimes, the failure of love is unintelligible; we simply cannot understand what happens, perhaps because it truly makes no sense. often, style meets form: the flashbacks are shot in a warmer, more organic 16mm, reflecting the hope and joy in the infancy of the relationship; the contemporary footage is digital —- cold and sterile. but, aside from any discussion the film may prompt (appreciatively, much of it revolves around ideas of sex and sexuality) its greatest achievement is perhaps the performances from gosling and williams, which were so naturalistic, so careful, and just perfectly tragic. also! a lot of the music was really nice (especially when diegetic)!
The narrative/manipulative structure did not bother me as much as I was enthralled by the performances and tragic breadth of it. Thanks Nathaniel for sparing me a few words!](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lf97a4VKBB1qzyw6so1_500.png)
Blue Valentine (Derek Ciafrance, 2010)
I enjoyed Blue Valentine so much more than I thought I would that I’m even willing to say it’s one of my favorite films of 2010. I would write a review but my dear tumblr friend Nathaniel put it better than I ever could - without ripping him off - and although I think I enjoyed the film more than he did, here are excerpts from his review (go read in full!) that sum up very well what I thought of it:
[…] the film works in shifting between the beginning of the relationship and the final days of its ultimate demise. in this, there is a lot of manipulation of the audience and not much in terms of any meaningful relational deterioration, i.e. we never understand what happened, and we are never given the chance to explore the transition on screen. […]
but, for all [its flaws], the film actually accomplished a naturalism and honesty in discussing the inexplicable, destructive forces of love and the painful decline of romantic relations. in fact, in some of its apparent flaws, the film achieves some insight. for example, by omitting any transitional or middle period in the relationship, the film seems to suggest that, sometimes, the failure of love is unintelligible; we simply cannot understand what happens, perhaps because it truly makes no sense. often, style meets form: the flashbacks are shot in a warmer, more organic 16mm, reflecting the hope and joy in the infancy of the relationship; the contemporary footage is digital —- cold and sterile. but, aside from any discussion the film may prompt (appreciatively, much of it revolves around ideas of sex and sexuality) its greatest achievement is perhaps the performances from gosling and williams, which were so naturalistic, so careful, and just perfectly tragic. also! a lot of the music was really nice (especially when diegetic)!
The narrative/manipulative structure did not bother me as much as I was enthralled by the performances and tragic breadth of it. Thanks Nathaniel for sparing me a few words!
