MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS (2007)

Story By & Directed By: Wong Kar Wai
Written By: Wong Kar Wai & Lawrence Block
Cinematography By: Darius Khondji & Pung-Leung Kwan
Editor: William Chang

Cast: Norah Jones, Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Cat Power, Rachel Weisz, David Straitharn, Frankie Faison


Elizabeth's heart is broken. For solace, she drops in late at night a few times at Jeremy's diner for blueberry pie a la mode; they talk. Once, he watchers her sleep, her head on the counter. Abruptly, she leaves New York City to get away from her pain. She works a couple of jobs in Memphis. There, a heart-broken cop is drinking himself into oblivion, his ex occasionally showing up where he drinks and Lizzy works. Then, she's in Nevada, working at a casino where she uses her savings (she wants a car) to stake Leslie, a busted gambler, in a high rollers' game. After, Beth drives Leslie to Vegas where Leslie's estranged father lives. Broken relationships. What about Jeremy?

I’m a sucker for a love story. Just in case you don’t know. Not lovey dovey love stories but realistic ones that test the bounds of love. Which brings me to this film.

This film is definitely not for everyone. It epitomizes the idea of what the general public thinks of a independent movie talky, artsy, colorful but it is so much more my friends. So much more. If I could be so bold I would call this a noble failure.
Norah Jones isn’t perfect but she tries. It’s like watching someone at their first acting classes trying to do a scene. Not great but at least passable in her performance.

Wong Kar Wai could capture beauty in anything especially a cultural landscape. He could make the Ozark terrain somehow appealing and magical. His love of vivid colors and ethereal camera angles. So it would only be natural that he would pick New York as his first American landscape to film in and explore, of course being a true tourist to this country he makes this a road movie. So as the movie travels he brings out the natural beauty of every place the film goes. He hasn’t lost his trademark of using small intimate locations to let you really get to know the characters more then the plot. From the outside his movies seem to be more style over substance, but once you really get into the film you realize he is using style to not only get to the emotions but to accentuate the substance. His films are usually about mood, emotions and style, but it is more about what isn’t said then what is.

This film is about small intimate stories spaced out across different states so that the film takes us on a parallel journey for the filmmaker also as he is working in his non native land and getting to work in a new playground to film. He puts himself in the place of the audience. As he seems to be discovering the locations as we do. Opening our eyes to the natural beauty of them, but also presenting them with a sense of wonder.

This movie is like watching a bunch of one act plays combined with a single common character linking them all.

The first story is more like a Tennesse Williams play. Acted out in New Orleans. The stories vary from location.

If you are used to the wong kar wai style you’ll love this. How he layers the stories. It is like reading a book the more the story goes along. The more invested you get and begin to really care about the characters and their fate. This film again has the main theme of love and heartbreak and the sadness both can sometimes bring.

The film affected me on a emotional level.

Norah jones is not the only singer making an acting debut in the film so does the singer Cat Power. Natalie Portman once again proves she can rarely do no wrong as a actress. Shecanmorph into any character and still be believable which is interesting as she steals all the scenes she is in. The lead role that Norah plays seems more like the type of role Natalie would play, but I enjoy seeing Natalie Portman take more chances with her loud character.

This film for me is a buy but wait for it to be previously used

GRADE: B