I got the blues. Well, Ihad them and it lasted till the morning after I watched this excellent movie. MichelleWilliams and Ryan Gosling are outstanding in this heartfelt piece of filming.They each fully commit to their roles and completely convince you about thepart they play in this story about the end of a relationship.
WARNING – don’t watch ona first/second date, unless you’re a dude and you’re trying to impress your newlady friend with your “sensitivity”. Nah, even then don’t do it. In factcouples should only watch it if they have a certain level of maturity.
The film moves back andforward –beautifully timed, linked and edited BTW – between the beginning ofthe end of the relationship and the actual beginning. The seeds are sown in theearly parts of the movie – we see
Dean is a good guy; kind and thoughtful witha good sense of humour. Cindy is the nurturing type, looking after hergrandmother, accepting perfunctory sex from an earlier boyfriend (who makes herpregnant) and we also get to see the boorish behaviour of her father at homewhich perhaps explains why she accepts the asshole boyfriend.
Dean and Cindy meet. Theyfall in love and then the movie splices back to the deterioration of their marriageand your emotions get all in a tangle. Sure, the reason they got hitched wasflawed, but they loved each other didn’t they? How could a couple with such potentialend in this way?
Who’s to blame? No one.Both of them. You get to decide. (And I’m wondering what the gender divide ison this one.)
There are several scenesthat time will show us rank amongst the most iconic moments in cinema history.A couple in particular spring immediately to mind. Dean and Cindy are in frontof a shop. Dean is singing in a goofy, Elvis voice and Cindy is dancing to histune in her best early level tap dance. This is a heart-warming moment, full ofcharm. If it doesn’t make you smile you need to crack open your ribs with thosethingies you see on E.R and check if there’s a heart beating inside you.
Another scenedemonstrates how far they have fallen. Dean rents a room in a motel. They needto spend more time together. We see them in the shower. Cindy gives Dean thecold shoulder. Later on she invites him to join her on the floor. We can seeher self-loathing, her cringe from his touch and she eggs him on to violence,demanding punishment as an act of love. Dean refuses. He’s not that guy. He can’tand won’t hit her.
This is a brave moviefilled with uncomfortable moments and heightened by award-winning performances(if they didn’t, they should have) from the 2 main leads. It avoids thewell-trodden tropes of Hollywood – the man is not a violent addict/ drunk spendingall hours at work, the woman is not a ball-busting harridan/ addict/ drunk/reformed prostitute. We don’t get fed the usual three act format (you know, #1-guy wins girl - #2 guy loses girl - #3 guy wins girl back) instead we aretreated to a fly on the wall examination of a couple who have simply fallen outof love. Shit happens and there isn’t always a pat reason for it and that isperhaps the bravest thing of all for this moviemaker to demonstrate.
Definitely not apicker-uper – more for when you feel the need to reflect or to get the old greymatter working. Or when you want to watch two talented actors do what they do best.
