Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

christopher-underwood This is not usually the kind of film I would pick up but I was intrigued that it was Wong Kar Wai who directed and that Lawrence Block had a hand in the writing. Not sure if this should be called a romantic comedy, probably not as its not very funny, nor is is particularly romantic. I guess there are romantic notions, deliberations over whether to have the infamous blueberry pie, the rather charming business regarding customer keys left at the diner and other little things made rather a lot of. Main thing, this is really good to look at. As was to be expected this is very colourful with the director making the most of neon and reflections. Not afraid to shoot wondrous close-ups irrelevant to the dialogue. Which brings us to Lawrence Block, whose work I have read rather a lot of. Apart from his hard edged villainous stuff (and even within some of those) he can switch effortlessly to believable, small time dialogue, bit like how Tarantino does rather heavy-handedly. Here the actors seem to have had a hand in it too, so much comes across as improvised and no the worse for that. Its just this doesn't really go anywhere, not really, but it is not an unpleasant way to spend some time.

NateWatchesCoolMovies Wong Kar Wai's My Blueberry Nights is a gorgeous, touching little tone poem that explores love, loss and hurt by focusing on five different souls, all dealing with grief or loss in some way. Singer Norah Jones makes her film debut as Elizabeth, a naive young New York girl who's just been dumped by a guy she really cared for, and one can tell she's experiencing true hurt for the first time. She spends her nights daydreaming in a little café run by Jeremy (Jude Law, excellent), who gradually falls in love with her. She jets off, however, on a soul searching country spanning trip to try forget, and heal. There she meets several key characters who each leave an imprint on her and slightly shift her perspective on complex human emotions that she hasn't encountered a lot so far in life. An alcoholic cop played by David Strathairn, aches for the beautiful but wayward wife (Rachel Weiscz) who abandoned him. Strathairn gives the best work, showing chasms of heartbreak just with his faltering voice, in an intimate scene of purely distilled anguish that should have garnered him a nomination. In Reno she meets Leslie, an irresponsible gambling addict who lives fast and loose to disguise her own heartbreak. Jones has a camera's dream of a face, her dark doe eyes a canvas for the external happenings to paint a portrait of gradual understanding on. Law shows the tatters in his fast talking persona, beneath which we see glimpses of sadness, and blooming attraction for Jones. Director Wai really knows how to sink our awareness into each emotional state through very tight, fly on the wall camera work and unconventional documentation of each scene that doesn't pander to melodrama or patronize us by emotionally holding our hands, just simply shows what's there, in glorious unpretentious, and often heart wrenching honesty. It's all set in a haze of nocturnal neon, haunting crooner tunes and a tangible sense that we know these characters from somewhere in a far off dream. That's how well the mood of the film draws us in.

weiszed ****Minor Spoilers***** An amazing film, throughout which my title seems to be the strongest notion. It isn't uncommon to find movies that you can relate to or that trigger a certain emotion in yourself that you enjoy feeling. But once in a great while a movie comes along that really speaks to you. I could easily write several pages but I will do my best to confine my thoughts to several paragraphs.This is a film that you can let roll on in the background like a rhythmic blues song and and let it talk like only the out-of-focus can. Yet always present in the rhythm is the sad drawn out song of how lonely we can become and all the ways we dance around our heartache in an effort to run from it or allow the feeling to linger. In either case we never really put it behind us. This is illuminated by Jude Law's keys as well as the intermittent chapter screens constantly referencing the time elapsed and mileage from the first heartbreak.You will often see characters hesitate not in dialogue but in action which really adds to the notion that this movie is about the journey, rather than the destination. At one point Elizabeth states "I don't have any specific destination in mind but...I'm just gonna go till I run out of places to go". Her character is very relatable, has a natural beauty that allows you to pay attention to her without getting distracted and only speaks when she needs to. Thumbs up to Norah's utilization.Weisz gives a great performance (although I hate seeing her play dark roles) that really hits deep around the 45 min mark. She delivers a key scene involving a bar tab that came across strongly to me as an analogy for responsibility in matters of the heart.Portman also really came through on her role and bears its weight without flinching. I wasn't quite sure about why her character was placed in the movie till the very end of her story but it fits. The strategic use of Jude Law keeps male viewers interested and the story tied town to a timeline.Once in a very great while the dialogue sputters unnaturally and while the cinematography is very good, there are a handful of uses that jump out against the tone of the film. Either way, this movie has made it to my top 5 and I will be checking out Kar Wai Wong's other films for sure. Well done! 8.5/10

Kiryl Viarenich Norah made her debut in this movie as an actress. Surprising how Wong Kar-Wai could create an interesting character with her. In some scenes she may be mixed down with Monica Raymund. And she's seven years older! Jude Law is at his best, playing a romantic hero instead of a superhero. His character resembles Dostoevsky's dreamer from "White nights". First the film seems to be a bit dull. Things change as Elizabeth starts traveling and especially when Natalie Portman appears. The plot isn't linear: both in the relations between the characters and in the course of travel of Elizabeth. First, Katya comes to see Jeremy before leaving, then Leslie comes to see her then-dead father, and finally Elizabeth returns to Jeremy and she finishes the round of her long-time travel.