Review of Blue Valentine (2010) by Simonjo — 09 May 2011

I really admire Ryan Gosling. I mean, how many actors would go so far as to make an apology film to make up for previous cinematic slip ups. In Blue Valentine, we have the complete anti-thesis to the schmaltzy, overly sentimental, "The Notebook".

I can almost envision him in an interview promoting the film stating, "Look guys, I'm really sorry about 'The Notebook'. You have to understand, I needed to do populist film to bolster my career.

If I didn't do it, I wouldn't have been able to be involved with films like this." Thanks Gosling! Melodrama is replaced by stark realism and there's mutual loathing instead of romance. The hand held camera is stylish with out ever becoming annoying and the sensational acting goes along way towards complementing these cinema verite techniques.

Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the film, is that, despite the mundane subject mater, the film succeeds in being lovably charming. I'm not going to lie, I giggled on more than one occasion because of Dean Pereira's (Gosling) antics.

So I say again, Thanks man.