Un baiser romantique

Wong is one of our three greatest living filmmakers.

He has transformed imagination for a planet. When real histories are written, artists like this will be appreciated for what they begin, giants compared to politicians who can only try to end things.

His last four films were transformative. Now he tries something outside his realm of mastery.

Like his main character, he has decided to travel the US in search of love. Also like his main character, he doesn't care about the story, only the afterglow. Its the mood that matters. In his previous films, he literally works without a script, creating an obvious vacuum where the story would be.

Here, he simply adopts a story that is so vacuous it leaves a similar hole. With a lesser artist, you would actually pay attention to the story and wonder about it. I suggest you simply ignore it, providing it with no more semiotic weight than the doorknobs which are so carefully photographed.

The idea here is simple: he finds a woman who by herself evokes a mood. He's done this before, and found creatures whose screen presence melts boundaries between stones allowing transparent slipperage. In this case, its Norah Jones, who does have a charm. His key image is of her drunk asleep on a diner counter with crumbs of delicious pastry on her full lips.

The way he's chosen to carry her image is through her songs, which contain a deceptive tension of confident tentativeness. This is a woman who is intensely unsettled and so is settled in herself. Jude Law plays a sort of urban domestic who prepares and waits, simply waits and draws her back.

In between the crumbs and the kiss are adventures with two women played by Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman. They are placed as outer bounds on two sides so that our character's stone can slip home. One is remorsefully constrained by neediness, the other guiltily unconstrained. Both lose men, but not our heroine.

Christopher Doyle is not present on this, and its obvious that it is part of the risk Wong is taking: new country, new language, new mode for moodiness, new crew altogether. Different sorts of lingering and saturation.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Wong Kar Wai's English-language debut is a home run, thanks to his superior craft and thanks to the remarkable group of individuals he has brought together, from his star-studded cast to Ry Cooder on lead guitar and Darius Khondji as director of photography. Khondji is the lonesome lens man who made Pollack, Allen, Fincher, Boyle, Polanski, and Bertolucci look so fine, and he is at the top of his game as he makes Wong Kar Wai's trademark layered look shine like never before. Singer-songwriter Norah Jones' acting debut is impressive, as is Rachel Weisz' performance in the part of the Southern Belle, keeping the dialect coaches busy. Natalie Portman, cast against type, may be the prettiest face in Hollywood, but she tries very hard and, predictably, fails to come across as a trashy gambler. She even slips out of her fake accent twice: Once when she wakes up in bed with Norah Jones (understandable) and again when they split ("You're hopeless"). Similarly, Jude Law is unconvincing in the part of the philosophical bartender. I know everybody loves him, but I just don't see what they see. My money is on David Strathairn and his touching portrayal of Arnie, the quiet drunk. I wish they had kept his tab open a little longer and cut the lame Las Vegas leg of the script.

A young woman, getting over a relationship, travels across America to earn money and see the country.

I found this to be hypnotic, soothing experience, much like In The Mood For Love. It really does set up an atmosphere that makes you feel like you're really there. I think it's a pretty hollow film, which has turned a lot of people off, but i think there's enough there on the surface. I think the film looked great - the colors and charming set design. Jones was pretty decent, Kar Wai wisely filling the film with interesting characters/actors so she doesn't have to carry the whole film. Natalie Portman seems a little miscast (she looks barely a day over 20 so i don't know why she plays characters out of her depth), but i found Strathairn and Rachel Weisz heartbreaking and Law hasn't been so appealing in years. A nice surprise considering my low expectations.

Somebody said Wong Kar Wai's "My Blueberry Nights" is a poor imitation of his own prior works. I think it's half true. Although its smell and taste are awfully familiar, but, to me, those feeling always linger to your memory longer than any ordinary film just the same.

The film opens with Elizabeth (Norah Jones in her film debut) wandering into Jeremy's (Jude Law) coffee shop. On her side, she's just breaking up with her boyfriend. She's angry and exhausting. On his side, he's lonely and has heartache past. And he secretly fell in love with her. After one unforgettable night they had share, suddenly she decided to go for a road trip (to find "the meaning of life"). She met a lot of individual people who somehow exchange their emotion with her.

She met Arnie (David Strathairn), a cop who can't cope with a separation with his super sexy ex-wife Sue Lynne (Rachel Weisz). She met a gambler, Leslie (Natalie Portman) who get used to lie to everybody including herself. Not until the truth is finally catch up with her. In the mean time, Jeremy is trying to locate her. He really wanted to find her and repeat that unforgettable night for the rest of his life.

After I watched first 10 minutes of the film, I wasn't so sure that is it the right choice to cast Norah as the lead. But after that, it got better (maybe it's because she looked calmer and decided to be a good listener). But the best acting in this film belongs to David Strathairn who plays this heartbreaking character so well that I wish I could do something for him.

This is Wong Kar Wai's first English-language film. For those who love "Chungking Express", "Days of Being Wild" or even "In the Mood for Love" might found this is rather disappointing. his usual trademark to produce dreamy atmosphere and create such a subtle narrative seems a little bit too obvious (and tacky). Without Christopher Doyle's collaboration, Darius Khondji's cinematography seems a little bit pale by comparison.

Disappointing doesn't necessary means bad. "My Blueberry Nights" is a good film created by one of the greatest director-poet living today. If you happens to know him only for this movie, lucky for you. Because you will find yourself completely falling in love for the first time with those amazing works he has created once you watch them.

This is a film of contrasts. A good story let down by poor dialogue; some great acting as well as some mediocre and good direction marred by irritating and indiscriminate "motion blur" filming.

The film has the elements and sometimes the feel of a charming love story, a modern-day fairy tale. The gentleness and innocence of the two main characters is in sharp contrast to the world inhabited by the secondary characters, where addiction to alcohol, gambling, desperation and suicide are the order of the day.

Jude Law as Jeremy seems to have lost the plot. His half-hearted attempts at a Manchester accent are woeful. Why bother with the accent anyway? He is a coffee shop owner in NY, and his origins have no bearing whatsoever on the storyline. However, his natural charisma and his gentle demeanour do suit the role, and he pairs well with Norah Jones as Elizabeth.

As for the flaws; is there ever total silence outside in the street in NY at night? And would customers really give their house keys to the person behind the counter in a coffee shop, to be kept in a glass jar? And would customers ever be known not by name, but by what they eat? And is there anyone in Manchester actually called Jeremy? As for Norah Jones, although she is on screen for most of the film, she does not have a lot to do or say – which is just as well really. She spends most of her time watching in silent, doe-eyed admiration, as she is given a master class in acting by the "real" actors.

The *real" actors here are David Strathairn and Rachel Weisz. Strathairn gives a memorable, finely crafted performance as Arnie, who is a cop by day and an alcoholic barfly by night. Rachel Weisz as Sue Lynne his beautiful, wild, estranged wife makes full use of her short time on screen to create a wayward, tumultuous character at once sensuous, and sensitive. Between them they steal the show.

But gripes aside, the director does manage to create an appealing, if flawed, film. It's a mixed bag. It's good in parts.