My Blueberry
Nights
I saw this
corny jazz romance movie last night called My Blueberry Nights. This is a feature film that deals with the
theme of dependency. Dependency
on other people, alcohol, blueberry pie, gambling etc. It’s definitely one of those movie type
movies where people quickly form these offbeat relationships that only exist in
movies. I don’t know about you guys, but
I’ve never felt so comfortable around a waiter that I’ve passed out on the
counter in his diner with blueberry all over my face and then woken up the next
day and not even feinted mock-embarrassment.
The characters
also seem to respect the mystique other characters are trying to build for
themselves by not asking the glaringly obvious questions. For example, Natalie Portman plays a poker
player who’s estranged father has to fake his death in
order to speak with her. Not only does
nobody ever ask her why he has to resort to these theatrics to talk, but there
are several scenes where Portman says “I’ll bet I know what you’re
wondering…” but then follows up with something other than “why won’t I
speak to my father?” I mean, that’s what I was wondering. Considering a good portion of this movie
takes place on a road trip to go see a father she says she won’t speak to, it’s
pretty weird that it never comes up. I
guess there’s some pretty interesting scenery to comment on, but really, I
think curiosity would get the better of me after a couple days sitting next to
somebody who I am giving a ride to go see a man she says she won’t talk to.
You know how in
Paris, Texas Harry Dean Stanton just left his beautiful wife and
wandered off into the desert for years and everybody thought he was dead until
he showed up again years later acting all mute and spaced out and everybody
just kinda gave him his space? It seems everybody in My Blueberry Nights
has Harry Dean Stanton privileges of not having to explain themselves until
they’re good and ready. And everybody
else is another Harry Dean Stanton who understands and will never ask “Dude,
what the fuck is up with you?”
I also want to
add that the casting in this movie is bang on.
Kar Wai Wong really
managed his resources with this film.
Jazz singer Norah Jones plays the lead character, an introspective young
woman drifting through self-discovery.
Normally this role would go to Scarlet Johansson, and I’m really glad it
didn’t. Seeing as all this character has
to do is play the quiet straightman to a bunch of
more loud interesting characters, it’s not that demanding for a first-time
actress. But Jones does a decent job of
standing there and looking at other people like she’s listening to them. I think having to endure one more outing of
the trademark Scar-Jo Blank Stare would’ve just killed this movie.
The only thing
I remember hearing about this movie when it came out was critics taking the
easy attack on Jones’s acting saying the obvious “she should stick to
singing” like they always do when somebody who’s famous for something else
tries acting. They probably also stayed
true to form and made some pun on the title that escapes me now. Something super-movie-criticish like “this blueberry is stale” or “I
wouldn’t want another slice of this”. Keep up the good work guys, the world’s
counting on you!
I don’t think
Jones shows huge potential to be an actress, but I’m not going to bust her
chops because I think she was actually okay for this character. Her semi-engaged stare beats ScarJo’s blank stare in my book. I would’ve preferred if they hadn’t used her
music in the film. I found it kind of
jarring. Even though her character isn’t
a singer and her speaking voice isn’t like her singing voice, it was still
weird. Especially since she doesn’t do
the whole soundtrack, they get all these other jazz singers to relax you. But every now and then one of her songs
starts playing and it always freaked me out to see her lips not moving while
her songs played like she was a ventriloquist or Ashlee Simpson or something.
Just like Wong
gives an unchallenging straightman character to the
inexperienced lead actress, he also deals out his other roles to suit the
actors’ strengths. The character that
just has to be charming and only occasionally border on acting gets played by
Jude Law. He decides to go for an
overacting performance out of Natalie Portman, which is much better than her
usual attempts at actual acting. And he
leaves characters that require real acting to Rachel Weisz
and David Strathairn.
So, a good use of the team, Mr. Wong.
I’ll admit that
the main reason I rented this movie was the cast of hotties. I saw Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz, and Norah Jones on the cover all making sexy eyes
and nibbling on their own fingers and since the cover art was an express trip
to Bonersville I figured this would be some sort of
artsy erotica movie like Sex and Lucia or Y Tu
Mama Tambien.
It was surprisingly unsexy, and more just kinda
melancholy. The main thing that I think
was supposed to be sensual was all the extreme close-ups of blueberry pies
baking, but most of those shots just looked like infected wounds to me.
This film is
done in a cheesy music video style from about twenty years ago that frequently
employs lots of blurry slow motion shots filmed at a low frame rate. A lot of people complained when this
technique was used in Gladiator because they felt the way the shots
would blur and drop frames obscured the action.
Well, in this movie there’s not so much to obscure since the only action
is mostly people setting slices of blueberry pie down
on countertops and eating them. I guess
I would’ve appreciated a better look at Jude Law’s comb-over in this movie, because
it’s a goddamn work of art.
This filmmaker,
Kar Wai Wong, seems to be
one of these guys that has a little cult of people who
will attack anybody who criticizes his films.
It seems anytime anybody says they don’t like a film of his, he’s always
got a fan there to say that the critic just doesn’t understand and appreciate
Wong’s style. Which is
their way of saying you have to like his films in order to like them.
This is the
first film of Wong’s that I’ve seen and I’ll say that I liked it, but it is
corny and his visual style feels like it’s from a cheesy old George Michael
music video. Lots of that cheesy low-framerate blurry slow-mo stuff. All sorts of type-lapse photography and corny
shots of clouds parting and nature and I’m sure a bunch of other 80s music
video tricks I’m forgetting to mention.
I said this movie resembles Paris, Texas in its tone the nature
of reality it presents. But the two
different visual styles of the directors actually make these movies feel like
they were made in each other’s time. Paris,
Texas pretty much still looks like a movie that could’ve come out this
year, while My Blueberry Nights looks like it was made twenty years
ago. But that’s okay,
twenty years ago ain’t so bad. And I generally liked this corny jazz romance
movie because of its absurd hokeyness, so I think
I’ll just contently pass out on a diner counter with blueberry pie all over my
face and call it a night.
If you liked this, here are some other
recommended articles:
One of my favorite movies
gets Criterionized.
I analyze a movie from my
own culture….sort of.
Ashlee Simpson’s Undiscovered: A
Joe Simpson Production
If groping your daughters
in the shower qualifies you to produce movies,
then Joe Simpson is
poised to be the greatest movie producer ever!