I just watched My Blueberry Nights a few days ago with a friend. I remember how I got to know the movie. I knew nothing about the movie. Previously, I was so excited on watching Across the Universe that when I saw My Blueberry Nights title on the screen of the ticketing booth of the cinemas, I thought nothing of it. Until I went online and did a search for the movie.
I looked at the cast. First person that caught my eye, Jude Law. I repeat again.. Jude Law!!! My favourite actor!! His performance in Artificial Intelligence was astounding. But there again, Jude Law in My Blueberry Nights?! And to think I thought it as some "any other movie"!?
Next on the list.. Norah Jones. Wow. I was surprised. Norah Jones. The jazz multi-grammy-award singer on her debut movie role. Gotta be something huh? Like some songs she would be crooning?
Next it was Natalie Portman. I was not very familiar with this actress but I watched her act in V For Vendetta(again, one of my favourites), and I thought she put up a convincing one.
What really surprised me was that the director was Wong Kar Wai. He was a renowned HongKong director who directed the classic "In The Mood for Love" aka Hua Yang Nian Hua. That was a superb movie, though I couldn't remember watching it. But it starred Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, both power-packed stars. So anyway, I learnt that My Blueberry Nights was Wong Kar Wai's first attempt on a Western movie, hence I was eager to find out. I mean, Ang Lee had done so well with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the controversial Brokeback Mountain. So it was no surprise that East is meeting West.
I watched My Blueberry Nights at Cineleisure. It was a small cinema, but relatively cosy. I liked the fact that we were up-close with the screen. And it was eye levelled. When the movie started, the music instantly captivated me. It was lushy, so soothing, like some blues. I thought it was Norah Jones. But then, I found out it was by some singer-songwriter nicknamed Cat Power. And the title was "The Greatest"(the song playing in my blog right now). But yeah, Norah Jones sang a song for the movie soundtrack called "The Story", which was good as well.
The meeting at a small cafe struck as a very intimate opportunity for sparks to fly and love to blossom. Jude Law(OH MY), acted as a cafe owner who baked pies and pastries. And Elizabeth(Norah Jones) first appeared being disheartened by the fact that her boyfriend was seeing another girl. So she just chanced upon the cafe, and left a bunch of keys to Jeremy(Jude Law), thinking her boyfriend would collect it. But as a matter of fact, Jeremy showed her a jar full of bunches of keys which was left by people. And most of them were left untouched for years. This was really meaningful. Keys. To someone's heart perhaps? There led on to frequent visits by Elizabeth on a desperate attempt to see if her boyfriend had collected the keys. Each bunch of keys tell a different story, so was Elizabeth's. I'm not going to reveal all of the plot cos you guys ought to watch it!
Surprisingly, Norah Jones did a pretty good job in her debut movie role as a pure, gullible yet determined and independent girl. In fact, her chemistry with Jude Law was there. She acted rather naturally. On the other hand, Natalie Portman paled in comparison. Her role in this one was not likeable, though the audience would probably sympathise with her. But her acting just failed to meet her usual standards, as in the movie V for Vendetta.
The best acting in the movie came from David Strathairn, an unknown actor to me. He acted as Arnie, a heartbroken, divorced man. And the portrayal of his character was so real and poignant that it touched me. He did such an awesome job in here that I think he deserves an Oscar nod. Like seriously. Rachel Weisz was not bad at all too! The actress who acted in The Mummy before did an amazing job by portraying a stubborn and aggressive woman who still sucuumbed to her real emotions eventually.
The blueberry pie played an almost unmissable and significant role in the movie, and the images alluding to it were rather deliciously portrayed. In fact, I liked the font and colour of the title, and the multi-layered meanings to it. There were many references to the colour blue, both subtle and obvious. And indeed, the movie was as sweet as a blueberry pie.
My rating for the movie: 4.5/5
I know it's high. But I don't like to lie.
No comments:
Post a Comment