Blue Valentine

7/6/2022

**It is a discreet film, which can go unnoticed, but very intense, realistic, believable and that can be difficult to see for many people.** Romantic dramas aren't exactly my favorite type of film, but I recognize the quality of work done in this film, and the skill of director Derek Cianfrance. In almost every way, this film was a labor of love, drawing heavily on the director's personal experience who, as a young man, witnessed his parents' divorce. Although the film has a name that reminds us of the rosier side of love, the film actually does a very detailed dissection of a relationship, from beginning to end. I can even agree if someone tells me that this film is not for everyone: it is a dense film, something slow, there are very monotonous passages, dialogues that seem to be th

7/6/2024

A really rather dreary depiction of two young people from pretty dysfunctional backgrounds who get together - with her baby from another relationship - and struggle through life. Ryan Gosling is "Dean" a working class man quite content to make his way as a handy man/painter whilst "Cindy" (Michelle Williams) is a nurse who has (slightly) greater aspirations for both of them, and her little girl. The story is delivered in threads that try to reconcile their separate, rather depressing, routes to their current predicaments alongside their prevailing issues. Certainly there was love, once, in their relationship but that has long been supplanted by resentment, frustration and even some jealousy before it all culminates with a rather disastrous "romantic" night in an hotel. The relentless inevi

6/22/2025

A film that feels like falling in and out of love in the same breath. It doesn’t warn you, it just wounds you - with all the tenderness and cruelty of real intimacy. Ryan and Michelle aren’t acting - they’re remembering. And maybe that’s the most painful thing of all.