Released in Theaters: 12/29/2010 (Limited)
Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star as Dean and Cindy, a married couple with a little daughter, Frankie. The movie goes back and forth from the time they first met to present day. We see them fall in young love and jump back to present day to see that things aren’t like they once were. The first scene involves Dean interacting with his daughter, played by Faith Wladyka, and they are absolutely adorable together. If Wladyka isn’t an amazing little actress, then Gosling made her look like one. It’s hard not to fall in love with the pair of them. Gosling is the fun-loving, silly, have-a-good-time Dad, while Williams is the hard-working, tired, do-everything Mom.
The first flashback focuses just on Dean, the next one just on Michelle until they first meet – Gosling always the charmer. Watching them fall in love is innocent and beautiful, but watching them in the present is almost difficult. It must be about four or five years between then and now, based on their daughter’s age, and in that time so much has changed. It’s frustrating because nothing specific has happened to make everything so different. Gosling is extremely passionate in the role. The love for his wife and his daughter is absolute and unconditional, which makes him so likeable. Williams is more of a mystery. We don’t really know how she feels or what she’s thinking. A lot is left to speculation.
The film is beautifully shot, especially with such a low budget. What’s most impressive is that this is only director Derek Cianfrance’s second feature film (I never heard of the first, Brother Tied). He spent 12 years writing the script in reaction to films he had been seeing. Gosling said in an interview that “he [Cianfrance] felt like he had been watching these movies and the actors had been carved out of marble…he wanted to make a film that embraced our flaws – they’re what make us special, but the characters couldn’t accept their flaws or the flaws in each other.”
“What happens to love? Where does it go? What happens in the domestic situation that kind of kills love? Why are so many marriages ending in divorce? Why is it that you love somebody so much that you could die for them but you have to share a bathroom and you just want to kill each other, you know?”
I was fortunate enough to see Blue Valentine before I posted my top ten of 2010. It stole the No. 2 spot to bump True Grit off the list. I can’t stop thinking about this movie. I want to see it again. Definitely see this film before you die. Or just don’t die. I’m not gonna die. It’s stupid.
IMDB 8.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes 88%
Movie Wiseguys 9.5/10
January 20, 2011 at 8:54 am
dying is for suckers