Blue Valentine

Ordinary people, ordinary life, boring film. Two hours of an uninteresting and unlikeable couple dealing with their insipid problems caused by their own stupidity. After twenty minutes, I didn’t want to continue watching it because (a) the characters were awfully annoying and (b) I figured out right at the beginning (thanks to the “smart” skipping in the timelines) where Blue Valentine was heading. There are many films like this one, and a lot more interesting. Regardless, I watched until the end and my opinion was confirmed: wannabe woke indie borefest. (26/01/2011)

From Derek Cianfrance, the specialist in "slice of life" films, similarly to the formally bolder Alejandro González Iñárritu, but touched with Southern passion. Blue Valentine is more melancholic, less robust, and more romantic than The Place Beyond the Pines, also much more concise. However, the narrative feels like a dream, and the performances of the two leads are top-notch – the chemistry in the intense scenes is impressive, just like the shaky minimalist camera. The more scenes you connect with your own life, the more stars you will give in the end. Whether the form or the script is this way or that, this is pure emotional cinema. (16/09/2014)

Ryan Gosling is an actor that I have had quite luck with lately. Similar to Ewan McGregor, whom I have seen in several movies lately - "Short Term 12," "Perfect Sense," "Beginners," and actually even "Man in the Shadow." I have also seen Ryan Gosling in films such as "Drive," "The Ides of March," "Crazy, Stupid, Love," and also "Blue Valentine." It is a beautiful film that is primarily about two people. Dean is a young man who did not have a great future, but he tried to find work, do something with himself. He is a pretty simple guy with a bad sense of humor, but he is loyal and loving. At least he thinks so. Cindy is a girl who also does not have a PhD in nuclear physics, but she tries. She wants to be a good nurse, she wants to help and she thinks she does her job well. When they meet, everything is simple, everything is beautiful. They fall in love. When they get to know each other more, everything becomes much more complicated and their relationship seems like a mistake. But they both realize it quite late. The film alternates between the present and flashbacks, giving the viewer a beautiful contrast between how beautiful it was and how ugly it turned. Love is beautiful, a relationship between two people is wonderful, but over time it can happen that the beautiful turns into the complete opposite. This is a powerful statement about how crazy life can sometimes be. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/09/rebelka-perfect-sense-sprosty-holky.html (27/02/2013)

Nice. Actually, more than that. This film is wonderful because it manages to tell a compelling and beautiful story about things that don't usually fall into the same category. I know plenty of people who decry films like this on the grounds that they’re too serious and that they don’t just engage their eyes and ears but also their brain. In particular case of Blue Valentine I don't get the feeling that it's any sort of complex film for contemplation that you can't somehow enjoy. The charm of this film lies in its naturalness, its humanity, and its intimacy, attributes that ultimately shape a film that is "a slice of life" (or rather, about life), though of course I realize it's a terrible cliché to characterize it that way. The fact is that I was so impressed (and heavily so) that I was able to "enjoy" a film that perhaps doesn't even hide all sorts of messages, but is a tasteful and sensitive portrait of a loving relationship between two people. Awesome closing credits sequence. (05/10/2011)