BLUE VALENTINE

. I honestly think Michelle Willams' has made it her mission in life to tell stories of the most "Ordinary" people in the world. I don't know if that's her way of maintaining some sort of grasp on "the real" world in comparison to the "fake and bake" lives of the hollywood stars, but I think she is due for a Slap Stick soon!

Blue Valentine is tres Wendy and Lucy in it's understated existence and super slow pace.  You are taken through the lives of a couple living an all to familiar story. They Meet young, adore each other for a moment, get knocked up and the rest is history.  If I was judging Blue Valentine based on it's completeness as a viewer, it would get a dam low rating. The fragmented back and forth "cross cutting" of their time together is easy to follow, but is all so anti-climactic.  Not very successful in giving the viewer a fulfilling story experience.

Where Blue Valentine does succeeds and even excel is in it's depiction of how withdrawn someone can feel towards someone they should be the closest to. The scene in the "Future Room" where Ryan Goslings' character (Dean) is making every attempt to be intimate with his wife Cindy (Michelle Willams), you can almost taste the pain. From Cindy's curling fingers while Dean is on top of her to his numerous failed attempts and a kiss, you are instantly brought to a time in your life when your body was telling you something you were hiding deep in your mind.  Something you didn't want to confront. Something that meant you had to lose something or someone you perhaps grew to know, love and feel safe with. Something you have to let go because it is no longer yours.

You are trapped in those moments in your life when your eyes well up and you can't stop it. You can't control it and you can't move in any direction until you confront it.  As you watch the decline of their marriage, it could serve some viewers well in reminding them to think before they act, be just a little selfish once in a while and I do not say this to trivialize the story, but it sure as hell reminded me to wear a condom.