Criticature: "Blue Valentine"

Since Ryan Gosling has had such a great year I have no qualms about the mediocrity of this drama. I heard a lot of buzz about this movie and, in honor of Valentine’s Day, it just seemed appropriate that I take it for a spin. I went in knowing that it is “depressing” (according to some friends) but I decided to give it a go, what with my penchant for masochism and all.

As if it wasn’t clear already, I was pretty underwhelmed by the resolution. But that just might be because I’m a sour-puss.

Technically well-made, “BV” is a flashback drama about the euphoric peaks and crushing pitfalls of modern relationships. While neither Dean (Gosling) nor Cindy (Williams) seem to fit the idea of “average people” (check out Dean’s ‘receding hairline’), there is a basic honesty to their portrayal that is difficult to dismiss.

And where most movies of this type simply aim at the courtship crowd, director Derek Cianfrance and his team of writers conjured up a film that tries to examine the entire arc as it is experienced by one couple. It’s a noble premise that is executed with maturity and without much reserve.

But the fact remains that one episode of “The Simpsons” (e.g. “Grandpa Versus Sexual Inadequacy”) was enough to summarize pretty much exactly the same thing.

Perhaps it’s my own disillusionment with Western precepts of romance, which have fizzled and sparked like the fireworks (both real and figurative) that light this movie, but it just left me feeling like there’s a lot more to love than just birth and decay.

***

Directed by:
Derek Cianfrance

Written by: 
Derek Cianfrance and Joey Curtis & Cami Delavigne

Produced by: 
Doug Dey...................................executive producer
Cassian Elwes.............................co-executive producer
Carrie Fix....................................co-producer
Ryan Gosling..............................executive producer
Lynette Howell
Jack Lechner..............................executive producer
Alex Orlovsky
Scott Osman...............................executive producer
Jamie Patricof
Rena Ronson..............................co-executive producer
Michelle Williams.......................executive producer

Cast:
Ryan Gosling..............................Dean
Michelle Williams.......................Cindy
Faith Wladyka...........................Frankie
John Doman..............................Jerry
Mike Vogel...............................Bobby
Marshall Johnson.......................Marshall
Jen Jones...................................Gramma
Maryann Plunkett.......................Glenda
James Benatti ............................Jamie
Barbara Troy.............................Jo
Carey Westbrook.....................Charley
Ben Shenkman..........................Dr. Feinberg