 | |
List Price: $14.95 | | Label: Weinstein Company
Salesrank: 11932
Released: July 1, 2008 |
| Our Price: $3.99 |
| Used Price: $1.25 |
|
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
Oscar® nominee* Jude Law (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain) and Grammy® Award-winning singer Norah Jones star in this "ravishing triumph... [of] pure romantic sensibility" (Armond White, New York Press). Law plays a big-hearted owner of a small New York diner who tries to soothe Jones' jilted heart with his blueberry pie. But only after going on a year-long cross-country odyssey does she realize love was right at her doorstep all along. Gorgeously filmed by award-winning director Wong Kar Wai (In The Mood For Love) and featuring Oscar® winner** Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener) and Oscar® nominees*** Natalie Portman (Closer, Garden State) and David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck), My Blueberry Nights is an optimistic ode to love and "one of the best movies of the year!" (Andrew Sarris, New York Observer).
Description of My Blueberry Nights (The Miriam Collection):
Bob Dylan's song "Lovesick" could describe every film Wong Kar-Wai has made since 1988's As Tears Go By. My Blueberry Nights, his first English-language feature, continues the Hong Kong helmer's fixation with the concept. Grammy-winning vocalist Norah Jones plays downhearted New Yorker Elizabeth. When her boyfriend takes up with another woman, she drowns her sorrows in the hand-crafted pie served up by sympathetic café proprietor Jeremy (Jude Law in a charming turn). Lizzie appreciates the support, but decides her best plan of attack is to leave town, so she hops a bus to Memphis, where she waitresses while serving as a sounding board for alcoholic police officer Arnie (David Strathairn), who pines for estranged wife Sue Lynne (Rachel Weisz). Later, Lizzie tries her luck in Vegas, where she joins forces with professional poker player Leslie (a brassy Natalie Portman). During her journey, Lizzie sends Jeremy postcards; through her wistful words, he finds himself falling in love. With Ry Cooder's plaintive score (bolstered by tunes from Jones and special guest Chan "Cat Power" Marshall) and golden-hued camera work from Darius Khondji (replacing regular cinematographer Christopher Doyle), My Blueberry Nights reaches for the elegiac tone of Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas as much as Wong's own Chungking Express. It's an odd combination that doesn't always work--the banal dialogue isn't up to the director's usual standards--but lovesickness has rarely been rendered more vividly. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
My Blueberry Nights (The Miriam Collection) Reviews:
Surprised that it Got Such Bad Publicity 
2009-11-25 - This was a small movie that wasn't advertised very much. I didn't hear about it until after it was in theaters, but was immediately interested, because I had always liked Norah Jones' music. The movie surprised me. It's beautifully shot (the coloring of the film is breathtaking), and all of the characters are interesting people who's lives you get a small glimpse into. The story, which is about Lizzie (Jones), who goes on an adventure after she realizes that her boyfriend is cheating on her, and realizes what she left behind is really what she truly loves. It's heart-warming, and even if it's not exactly an academy-award winner, I encourage anyone to give it a try. It's a beautiful movie that only some people will be able to see as true art.
Introspective film 
2009-09-28 - "My Blueberry Nights", could also have been called my "Bluesy Nights". It's as if we're in a blues club listening to Norah Jones wistfully singing, watching her sensuous words caressing the air around her lips. Elizabeth, played by Norah Jones, is broken hearted. And in order to quell her torment at having been recently dumped by her boyfriend she decides to leave town, and ventures off to Memphis, and then Las Vegas. Most of the movie is shot in slow motion, in a dreamy manner. This seems to fit with Elizabeth's introspective, semi-depressed state. It's an interesting technique that gives the viewer the opportunity to reflect along with a convalescing Elizabeth. There is something about this movie that reminds me of Edward Hopper and his famous painting of a night cafe. The streets are quiet, most everyone has gone home, but there are a few lonely souls still up walking the dimly lit night streets. Surprisingly this doesn't put us to sleep as the actors are mostly interesting. It's as if we're getting this intimate view into other people's deepest feelings as we're listening to their stories. Jude Law (Jeremy) is a cafe owner who listens to Elizabeth's story. Other phantoms of the night are Sue Lynne (Rachel Weisz) and her alcoholic husband Arnie (David Strathairn), and Leslie (Natalie Portman) who entertains herself gambling. The plaintive soundtrack by Ry Cooder nicely compliments the movie's tone. If you're in the mood to sit down and order a drink in a quiet little bar late at night, and listen patiently to the comings and goings of the clientele, then you'll probably enjoy this movie.
Mystifying
2009-09-18 - Can't help but notice that whereras Ms. Roberts' limited acting range has been noted, little if anything has been stated to justify her having been cast as 'Lizzie.' Ms. Portman would so have been more suitable to play the part, with her 'Leslie' character - for contrast - going to a Laura Dern, Martha Plimpton or Juliette Lewis. The physical resemblance between Roberts and Portman is distracting, unless it had been director Kar Wai Wong's intention to make it so in order for 'Lizzie' and us to become aware of 'Leslie's aimlessness, which alleged purpose, at any rate, cannot be said to have been adequately conveyed. Too uneven in several other regards, atmospheric cinematography included, except perhaps for Mr. Strathairn's contribution and the music.
appealing, if not overly distinguished, indie romance
2009-07-17 - ***1/2
Despite its status as a low-budget, independent feature, "My Blueberry Nights" boasts a roster of A-list players - Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman - that any mainstream filmmaker would consider it a privilege to work with.
In her big screen acting debut, singer Norah Jones plays Elizabeth, a beautiful young woman from New York who, after her boyfriend dumps her, decides to head out across the country to try and forget about her past and make a new life for herself. Working as a waitress in Memphis and the Desert Southwest, Lizzie meets up with a variety of colorful characters, including Strathairn as an alcoholic cop, Weisz as the wife who`s been cheating on him, and Portman as a compulsive gambler who lures Lizzie into one of her schemes. In addition, Law plays a café owner back in the city who introduces Lizzie to the delights of blueberry pie and who serves as the letter-writing confidante and emotional focal point the wayward young lady needs while she's off on her travels.
As conceived by director Wong Kar Wai and co-writer Lawrence Block, the vignettes aren't all that terribly interesting, actually, but the artful look and tone give the film a hip, sophisticated flavor. And since Lizzie is pretty much just a passive observer of the dramas that unfold around her, we don`t become as emotionally invested in the characters as we might had she been allowed to become a more proactive force in the narrative - though we're willing to concede that this approach might well have been necessitated by Jones` neophyte status as an actor. Her work here isn`t bad, by any means, but then she isn't called upon to do much more than react to the people and events around her. As a result, it's still probably way too soon to make any kind of definitive prediction regarding her future as an actress.
Still, the contemplative, lyrical mood of the film and the sometimes astute and touching observations it makes about both the good and bad aspects of relationships turn "My Blueberry Nights" - its episodic nature notwithstanding - into an enjoyable, if minor, triumph for Wai and his gifted cast.
A Lot Of Angst. 
2009-06-22 - I tagged this review - Natalie Portman, because I love her work. I was hoping this film would be another of her film gems but I was frankly disappointed. This is intended as an adult film with a very "moody" style. Some people seem to think moody films are deep. Well, if you say so. As for Natalie's fans, whom I directed here with my tag, I can tell you that she doesn't appear until an hour into the dreary plot and plays a relatively uninteresting Vegas card-shark. Basically, this is someones attempt at making an art-film. As for me, I'll stick with Garden City.
