Blue Valentine Review -- A Troubled Couples Movie

Married with children
Apropos of Blue Valentine’s underlying comment on relationships, I had no idea what I was getting into with this film. The day this movie was recommended to me, was the day I watched it. Why does it seem that Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling are dedicated to being in films that have a budget of eight dollars and a viewing audience that can fit into a Volvo?

Blue Valentine is a romantic comedy. Only the romance is detailed with realistic arguments and blue-collar work days. The comedy is that anyone who sees this film and expects a joyful romp through an average, working-class relationship. Blue Valentine depicts how easy it is for the modern couple to fall in and out of love. In doing so, both Williams and Gosling have added to their repertoire the ability to reenact what a vast majority of couples commonly experience.

 
Blue Valentine director, Derek Cianfrance, centers in on how relationships initially work while building a case as to why a relationship is doomed.
In my last review I spoke of how formulaic Hollywood has become and Blue Valentine is no different. If you were to take 30 seconds from any moment [barring the sex scenes] and format it to a theatrical trailer there would be no denying that this film is aimed at a certain type of movie-going audience. Delayed in 2008 because of Heath Ledger’s death and shot on a budget of around a million dollars, Blue Valentine is an example of how formulaic movies can be good for the movie-making process. Director, Derek Cianfrance, challenged Williams and Gosling by asking them to improvise most of their lines as a working-class couple.

There are so many elements that provoke the viewer to be open to how conversational Blue Valentine’s direction is. Having Williams and Gosling stay in an apartment together for a month [prior to filming], merely to focus on how to agitate one another certainly paid off. These uncomfortable scenes of arguments are shot close. The relationship is framed with flashbacks of how the couple found love, which is shot softer with 16mm film. Showing a tone of warmth. When the director jolts you out of the past, to the present, the film is digital and cold.

Casting makes all the difference. Any indie movie can 'attempt' to delve into this group character study, but it takes capable actors to actually deliver something plausible to the audience. That and Gosling is adorable.

These small little tidbits are what indie movies [at least the good ones] do so well. The chances taken aren’t reliant on how well post-production of a green screened environment pull in a blockbuster audience. The chances taken in Blue Valentine depend on two characters’ ability to vocalize every relationship hurdle within an hour and forty minutes. Mission accomplished.

The controversy surrounding Blue Valentine was around sex scenes that showed a man performing oral sex on a woman. The MPAA decided to give the movie an NC-17 rating due to the ‘edgy nature’ of the scene prior to a successful hearing by the production studio and staff. This touches on a topic that I wanted to tiptoe around, but hell I’m going to just spill it. Sex for sex sake in indie films is the equivalent of the slow-motion trope in a Zak Snyder film. It’s old and loses relevance every time its done in a cheap manner. This being said, Blue Valentine does a swell job depicting how us hairy mammals express love (and lust) for one another.

Depiction of realism of this nature seem to be going through an unspoken debate in indie films. Sex and violence shouldn’t feel tacked on as a hook to draw controversy. I should say, the graphicness of said sex and violence shouldn’t feel like its being overdone. Reading the graphic novel Preacher has shown me that just because you’re angling yourself to adults, doesn’t give you carte blanche to ‘over do it’ with the adult themes.

In a theater full of people sobbing their eyes out, nearing the end of Dean and Cindy’s turbulent argument mixtape. You can’t help but think about how closely relatible the source material of Blue Valentine. Showing how quickly a relationship can spark between two, seemingly ideal, characters sharply inserted between scenes of a relationship that feels so empty -- its … refreshing. Regardless of liking the final resolution, the cast and crew of Blue Valentine gives us a window to analyze an age old question: “I wonder what brought those two together?”

I give Blue Valentine …

Because emo, indie movies are sometimes worth it.

The “Wilted Rose” Award