Marval Movie

While watching Blue Valentine there was one key thought in my mind, "why aren't there more movies like this". How can there be so many movies about big dumb robots or serial killers and there aren't more movies about the little but important things like family and the problems of marriage. There are only two other movies I could think of that are made like this and at this caliber (Nil by Mouth and Rachel getting married).

There's a boy and a girl, so simple. The boys name is Dean (Ryan Gosling) a charming, talented  blue collar boy who lives for the moment. The girls name is Cindy, a hardworking student who looks toward the future.

Eventually we learn that Cindy is pregnent and it may or maynot be Deans, but to him it doesnt matter, when the baby comes it is unexpected and they have to get shotgun married but it is a welcomed marrige that these two would have probably ended up doing anyway.

Blue Valentine intertwines its plot between the present and the past of the young hopeful couple that seemed would last forever and the now worn out with their married life.

Both Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams convey their roles with startling elegance.  They both move and look the parts of each end of the equation that their meant to display, from the glowing hopefull young couple, to the worn out tried older couple whos romantic spark has gone out maybe about three years ago (maybe more).

The clash in their relashionship comes with time because ultimateley they want two completely different things. Dean wants things to live a fairy tale, always happy, always the same. Cindy wants growth and for their relationship to develop, Dean's jokes and playful attitude that once brought a smile to Cindy's face now just seem like she has to take care of an overgrown child.

One scene that has grown in appreciation over the times that Ive watched Blue Valentine is the scene where Dean and Cindy go out for their first date, where they walk through the street and come across a wedding shop and in a moment of sweetness Dean suggests that he plays a song on his Ukelele while Cindy dances to it. In the moment the playing and the dancing (along with Deans "goofy"singing) is a truly sweet moment but after watching it again and listening more closely to the lyrics its really a dark prophecy of the times to come.

"YOU ALWAYS HURT THE ONES YOU LOVE, THE ONES YOU SHOULDN'T HURT AT ALL".

Blue Valentine shows the whole cycle of a relationship between two people that it seems that it just wasn't meant to be and that love that may start sweet can end very bitterly.

Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 4