Review of Forty Shades of Blue (2005) by Ian M — 18 Sep 2011
A cantankerous music star's son visits for an awards ceremony then has an affair with his father's young wife.
The highlight of this film is Dina Korzun's morose and oftentimes inscrutable performance; the few moments when her vulnerability shows through - crying in bed after having sex with her husband as an example - are captivating. The film's success, aside from her performance, is the mere creation of a mood, a consistent melancholy that becomes overbearing at times.
Indeed, I thought the film was often too morose, too languid. And Rip Torn's character - not necessarily a fault to his performance - was inconsistent. For the first half of the film, he is an indomitable and harsh force, but he suddenly becomes human in the second act, and what once was reminiscent of James Coburn in Affliction turns into a gnarly mess of storytelling. And it can shove its freeze-frame ending up its ass.
Overall, Forty Shades of Blue is a performance-driven art film that has damning inconsistencies.
This review of Forty Shades of Blue (2005) was written by Ian M on 18 Sep 2011.
Forty Shades of Blue has generally received mixed reviews.
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