Review of Blue Valentine (2010) by Santanu M — 09 Jul 2013

I am amazed to say the least. Perhaps not the best of the lines to start a review but truly Blue Valentine touched my heart. It's a touching story of a decaying relationship told in a very skill-full manner. It's raw, real and so beautiful.

The film start at the present day and looks into a couple of days in the life of Dean & Cindy when their married life takes serious beating. On the same time we also get to know how they had actually met on a parallel track told in flashbacks. The beauty of the screenplay is that the contrasting stories become perfectly coherent as one without holding the pace. The shaky camera work adds to the raw realistic approach needed for the narration. But the most fascinating are the lead actors. Ryan Gosling has come up a long way since The Notebook days and he has matured as an actor. With Half Nelson, Lars and the Real Girl, Blue Valentine and Drive he has proven his merit. He is absolutely brilliant as Dean.

He had to portray two different shades in the same character and he has done a great job. Michelle Williams as Cindy is so close to the character and she does full justice to it. In fact she gives the most Powerhouse performance in the film.

So riding on a solid script, brilliant acting and fantastic direction from Derek Cianfrance Blue Valentine becomes a poignant tale of a couple lost in the demons of marriage where love takes a back seat.

I am going 8 out of 10 for Blue Valentine, It's one of my favourite films from 2011.