Review of Blue Valentine (2010) by Connor G — 02 Feb 2013

Blue Valentine is the most down-to-earth and honest look at a marriage one can possibly find in film. Ryan Gosling turns in what is probably the best performance of his career (yes, even better than Drive) and Michelle Williams was amazing as well.

I loved how director Derek Cianfrance presented the film by contrasting the beginning of the couple's relationship versus the end. Seeing these "phases" or "eras" side-by-side give the film a three-dimensional feel and it works so well.

It's quite scary knowing that a large percentage of marriages end up being like the one shown here: by the time the credits were rolling, I had felt as if the entire point was to slap a big WARNING sign on the face of marriage.

The monumental performances were exactly what the film needed in order to extract every last drop of emotion from the viewer. The film felt so real, especially during the argument scenes. I think if I were older, I would be able to relate much more to the film, but I still liked it a lot.