My Blueberry Nights (12A.)
Directed by Wong Kar Wai.
Norah Jones, Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman. 95 mins.
Wong Kar Wai's first English language film, an American road movie where nobody ever seems to actually move, was a misfire but possibly a welcome one. In his Hong Kong movies, the quest for cinema perfection had become stifling. Much more of the rigorously stylised visual opulence of In the Mood For Love and 2046 and he'd have ground to a halt. It needed someone to throw open the window and let in some air.
My Blueberry Nights felt like a new beginning. Christopher Doyle was no longer behind the camera but Darius Khondji (Amour, Lost City of Z, Delicatessen, Magic in the Moonlight) steps in and makes sure that every surface is immaculate. Norah Jones - jazzy chanteuse of a Radio 2 type persuasion who had never acted before – was cast in the lead role, Elisabeth, a New Yorker who confides in café owner Jude Law after a painful break up and then decides to go on a trip across the country.
It was a bold choice but Jones is probably the best thing in it. All the name actors try too hard and generally come across badly. Although it's the lead it's a largely passive role. Most of the time she has to stand around like an innocent child as the grown-ups get all the dramatic scenes. A cattier, bitchier reviewer (not me of course) might observe that a first-timer could have no easier introduction to being a film star than playing opposite Jude Law when he's attempting a Mancunian accent.
The material, you couldn't call it a plot, has her drifting through a series of jobs at low life bar rooms and loser casinos. The various segments feel like entries in a particularly poor compendium of American short stories that you never got round to finishing. Closest in spirit to Chungking Express, it's a slight tale of love's losers. Skimming lightly over the surface of its characters' pain, it's like Jamie Cullen trying to be Tom Waits.
Directed by Wong Kar Wai.
Norah Jones, Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman. 95 mins.
Wong Kar Wai's first English language film, an American road movie where nobody ever seems to actually move, was a misfire but possibly a welcome one. In his Hong Kong movies, the quest for cinema perfection had become stifling. Much more of the rigorously stylised visual opulence of In the Mood For Love and 2046 and he'd have ground to a halt. It needed someone to throw open the window and let in some air.
My Blueberry Nights felt like a new beginning. Christopher Doyle was no longer behind the camera but Darius Khondji (Amour, Lost City of Z, Delicatessen, Magic in the Moonlight) steps in and makes sure that every surface is immaculate. Norah Jones - jazzy chanteuse of a Radio 2 type persuasion who had never acted before – was cast in the lead role, Elisabeth, a New Yorker who confides in café owner Jude Law after a painful break up and then decides to go on a trip across the country.
It was a bold choice but Jones is probably the best thing in it. All the name actors try too hard and generally come across badly. Although it's the lead it's a largely passive role. Most of the time she has to stand around like an innocent child as the grown-ups get all the dramatic scenes. A cattier, bitchier reviewer (not me of course) might observe that a first-timer could have no easier introduction to being a film star than playing opposite Jude Law when he's attempting a Mancunian accent.
The material, you couldn't call it a plot, has her drifting through a series of jobs at low life bar rooms and loser casinos. The various segments feel like entries in a particularly poor compendium of American short stories that you never got round to finishing. Closest in spirit to Chungking Express, it's a slight tale of love's losers. Skimming lightly over the surface of its characters' pain, it's like Jamie Cullen trying to be Tom Waits.
