Director: Derek Cianfrance

Starring: Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams

Oscar nominee

Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)

and Oscar nominee

Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain)

had their work cut out for them in this dramatic tale.  Meeting as young twenty somethings we see the initial giddiness they experience falling in love.  As the years move on and a child is introduced, the daily monotony of work and life begin to mount.  The question for the couple becomes: is the love you felt years earlier enough to overcome the obstacles of your present?  The story is told in non linear fashion and helps keep the simple plot moving forward.

Director

Derek Cianfrance's

had to realize that his film would succeed or fail solely with the chemistry between Gosling and Williams.  Williams just received her second Oscar nomination for her performance, but Gosling was surprisingly absent from the list of nominees.  The movie was initially rated  NC-17 by the MPAA. An NC-17 rating is a box office killer and scares off any type of award consideration.  The producers appealed the decision and were given an R rating. The film is raw and explicit but it is far from pornographic. The performances are genuine and heartfelt.  By the end of the movie, my heart was broken for this young couple.  I became so involved with the story that in the end I felt cheated by the filmaker.  You can not involve an audience on that level and then not give them a payoff.  Blue Valentine does not lend itself to an ambiguous ending.  The romance is very deliberate.  Both parties seek each other out and pursue the relationship.  The audience deserves to know, do they or do they not stay together?  This movie does showcase two amazing performances but the sour taste of the ending left me a little blue.

fashionado

film

score 7 out of 10

fashionadofilm Jamie Clemons