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My Blueberry Nights — movie review

by Kris ⋅ August 1, 2008 ⋅ Comment now ⋅ Subscribe RSS

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dreamlogic.net's MOVIE REVIEW My Blueberry Nights movie review

Director: Wong Kar-Wai
Starring: Jude Law, Norah Jones
Genre: Drama, Romance

Whaa–t? What’s wrong with blueberry pie? In Wong Kar-Wai’s Hollywood effort, My Blueberry Nights, the homely dessert is the one cast off by customers every night, an icon for the discarded, much like the fishbowl melange of housekeys left by jilted non-pie eaters in Jeremy’s (Jude Law) tiny, yet bustling eatery. So how does Jude Law fare in a Wong Kar-Wai flick? The once heartthrob with such a commanding presence in Talented Mr. Ripley becomes just a two-bit British bloke, a shriveled shopkeep with a predilection for smooching sleeping patrons and wearing women’s blouses… okay, maybe it’s just supposed to be “blueberry” colored. His persona is so familiar that you’ll swear it’s Faye Wong’s character in (dreamlogic favorite) Chungking Express, along with the predictably massive, seemingly unrequited crush that follows. Jeremy falls quick for Elizabeth (Norah Jones), and in Chungking Express fashion, obsessed with despondence, she doesn’t have a clue.

What happens next in My Blueberry Nights is a part left to the viewer’s imagination in Chungking Express, the trek of self-realization Elizabeth must take. Her exploration leads her to travel across the nation, pausing for waitressing stints (Wong Kar-Wai loves blue collar) to purchase a car. Hmm, guess she craves freedom, or is equating geographical freedom/detachment as a substitution for emotional stability/intimacy. Quite normal after a bad breakup; I follow ya. Leaving New York to find anonymity; there’s a stretch.

Soon, Elizabeth becomes entangled in über dramatic events with strangers, keeping her distance, not necessarily befriending them, but drawn to their loneliness due to empathy, unable to shake them due to their clingy dependence on her kindness. Sue Lynne’s (Rachel Weisz looking uncharacteristically hot and sassy) primary focus is to torture her ex-husband/police officer Arnie (awesomely weary, withered David Strathairn, replacing Kevin Spacey), a regular at the bar Elizabeth graveyard shifts for. Natalie Portman, of course, bawls, in Wong Kar Wai’s specialty: making outlandish scenes realistic and human.

You’d think with a cast like that, Norah Jones would stick out like a sore thumb, but while a little bland and not exactly charming, she pulls off the “nice girl” role fairly well. You’d also think that with a crooner in the lead, Wong Kar-Wai would step up his soundtrack/score, yet he still latches on to a broken record set. He does include a few Cat Power songs and features her in a cameo, so I have to applaud him for that. Signature herky jerky camera montages are softened by pretty voyeur-esque shots through scribbed-on panes, neon, a saxophone, a cool blurry fight scene.

Too much Yin? Maybe it would have been better to entreat us with a male perspective on love, or indulge us in the rumors of Tim Roth and Ed Harris worked into the script. Frankly, My Blueberry Nights is too much of a good thing much too late. Utilizing recycled rhetoric and gimmicky cinematography while withholding any of the quirky cutesy clunky clumsiness Chungking reveled in, makes it seem as if Wong Kar-Wai is just going through the motions, skating on auto-pilot, making a satire of himself. His rose-colored glasses are going foggy. At least his sweet doesn’t turn sappy, his sour is far from sorrowful, no finality in his goodbyes.

So what’s wrong with blueberry pie? Jeremy retorts, “there’s nothing wrong with the blueberry pie, just people make other choices. You can’t blame the blueberry pie, it’s just… no one wants it.” I’m sorry I’d have to say the same for My Blueberry Nights.