Review of The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012) by Michael D — 15 Jan 2014

No getting around it, "The Broken Circle Breakdown" is a tear-jerking account of perilous romance and the harsh, twisted hand of fate. It'd be unfair to dub it off the bat a dismal paperback take on "Blue Valentine". But it'd be equally cruel not to warn beforehand those out there looking for a cinematic love story to forget about the everyday problems of ordinary life. Like an oncoming storm, the intimate human relationship of Felix Van Groeningen's film is one often impeded by inexplicable cosmic penalty and punishment, almost like if Lars von Trier directed "Once".

Where it touchingly provokes is in the tragedy of its bruised emotional turns. Also helps the camerawork by Groeningen is potent and gritty while staying natural enough to never become overbearing. If some of the grim narrative beats feel familiar, it's the genuineness and authenticity with which "Broken Circle's" fractured recounting is woefully designed -- loaded memories flooding dizzily back, hapless and haunted, as its tale of past events bloom and the circle remains unbroken. (84/100).