Powder Blue

I rented this movie although many people crucified this movie as being a Crash sequel or just a blurred copy of The Air I Breathe.. Being a great fan of the existential dramas, where destinies cross each other only to emphasize the true value of life and most important the heart mending result of doing something right, (even it is too late) i decided to watch this movie in hope of seeing something equally thrilling to Crash. In fact, Powder Blue has some similarities to Crash or The Air I Breathe, but director Tim Bui manages to underline the most important idea of human destiny: the miracle. Here we see the miracle of destiny that incorporates the miracle of love (Rose and Qwerty), the miracle of divine intervention and hope (Charlie and the trans gender prostitute) and the miracle of sacrifice. (Jack for his daughter Rose)

In conclusion this movie is not to be compared to Crash, even it is based on the same destinies-cross-each other-structure. And of course the soundtrack which is surprisingly good, with featured artists like Bliss or Imogen Heap.

I recommend this movie 8,5/10

I went to the theater tonight expecting something very similar to "The Air I Breathe" and the composition was similar in deed, "Powder Blue" is the story of four people, struggling with themselves and their fates.

However, i must disappoint all users that bashed this movie in advance. The story is captivating, comprehensible and sensitively told and the acting is perfect, something one can expect by looking at the cast.

"Powder Blue" didn't blow me away like TAIB but it is a descent drama with a top cast and a touching though sometimes a bit kitschy and predictable Story.

It's the Christmas season in L.A. Rose Johnny (Jessica Biel) is a drug-addicted stripper at Velvet Larry (Patrick Swayze)'s sleazy strip club with a coma kid in the hospital. Her dog escapes from her motel room and gets run over by shy mortician Qwerty Doolittle (Eddie Redmayne). Jack Doheny (Ray Liotta) is just released after 25 years in prison. His former boss Randall (Kris Kristofferson) gives him a suitcase full of money and directions to Rose Johnny. Charlie (Forest Whitaker) is a suicidally depressed ex-priest. He picks up transsexual prostitute Lexus (Alejandro Romero) and offers her his life savings of $50k to kill him with his gun. Doolittle is struggling for money and Charlie shows up offering the same deal. Waitress Sally (Lisa Kudrow) tries to show Charlie some kindness.

These characters are all lost. There is an emptiness in these characters and quite frankly in this movie. The actors try their best but filmmaker Timothy Linh Bui can't really pull it all together. The scattered nature of the narrative diffuses any tension. It just fails to maintain my interest in these people. Somewhere in the first half, it needs to reveal the connections and the backstories.

The comparisons to Crash (a great film) are inevitable. Powder Blue has a stellar cast in a story that is really a collection of stories that sometimes interconnect.

Forest Whitaker, Jessica Biel, Ray Liotta, Lisa Kudrow, Patrick Swayze et al. populate the dark world of Powder Blue. From the first scenes, we realize that this world is filled with crime, violence and poverty. This world becomes a "character" in the sense that it has as much (or more) to do with the motivations and actions of the characters as other characters do.

The first character introduced is a man, played by Forest Whitaker, who is living on the edge of desperation and hope. As the stories develop, we find that most of the characters are similarly dealing with issues of mortality and day-to-day negotiations with an uncaring world. Everyone is hurting.

Most viewers can probably identify with the sense of desperation that pervades the movie, either because they have experienced it or because they were in situations that could have taken them down a dark path. Thus, the film has an inherent honesty. Some viewers may not want to visit the demons that this film will resuscitate. But there are positive moments and acts of kindness in Powder Blue. For some viewers these moments may "redeem" the movie.

Overall, the acting is excellent. Although I thought Jessica Biel embodied her role as a mother who strips for a living, I felt that a few of her scenes were less convincing.

'Powder Blue' tries hard to be effective but for the most part it falls flat. The film is about four isolated lives which at some point during the movie, connect with one another. Yet, the stories are half-baked and theatrical and the characters actions hardly make sense. Moreover they're loaded with cheesy dialogues that are poorly delivered. The characters beg the viewer's sympathy but I found myself caring less for what happens to them. 'Powder Blue' tries to be like 'Magnolia' and it grossly fails to reach anywhere near the superiority of that movie. Forest Whitaker appears too whiny. His best scenes are those with Kudrow. Ray Liotta perhaps has the best role and he does a fine job here. Jessica Biel has her moments of good acting and abysmal acting but she proves to be a very good dancer. Eddie Redmayne looks confused most of the time. There are small appearances by Lisa Kudrow, Kris Kristopherson, Riki Lindhome, and Patrick Swayze but their characters lack development. Swayze is barely recognizable and he successfully provides comic relief. Lisa Kudrow delivers the most natural performance as she stands out in a small role (in my opinion, a role too small to do justice to her immense talent). I liked how the film was executed, mostly under a cold colour tone reflecting the gloominess of the atmosphere and the cold Christmas weather. The use of digital camera also gives the film a raw look that adds to the scenes. 'Powder Blue' is not among the worst films but it seriously needed rewriting because now it is almost very much a half-baked and insipid soap opera