Movie review part un (“he said”): My Blueberry Nights

by John P. Meyer

For My Blueberry Nights - his first English language feature - director Wong Kar Wai serves up a stylish, sumptuous, occasionally surreal four-course picaresque anchored by the budding romance between two lonely characters who meet after hours in a New York café.

One of them - Jude Law, as Jeremy - is the establishment's proprietor, which serves to facilitate his after-hours assignations with Elizabeth (songstress Norah Jones), who is struggling to come to terms with being dumped by her boyfriend. That unworthy's recent purchase of two pork chops (as in: one more than he can eat by himself) translates into bad relationship news for her, and Jeremy is Johnny-on-the-counter-stool to offer a shoulder for crying-on purposes. The fact that this hunky and attentive and obviously unattached guy thinks she is lip-smacking delicious doesn't seem to occur to our heroine, lost as she is in the haze of her own disenfranchisement. She adds her keys to the ex-boyfriend's apartment to the melancholy stash that Jeremy keeps in a jar behind the counter, then departs on the 'hound to points west - searching for a new definition of self.

This process leads her first to Memphis, where - in order to save up for a car (the bus journey having been, perhaps, a less than satisfying experience) - she takes two jobs: one as a day shift waitress and the other tending bar in a neighborhood gin joint. It's here (in the latter establishment) where she becomes acquainted with the tragic character of Arnie Copeland (David Strathairn, who plays woebegone better than anyone). Arnie's got a talent for putting away whiskeys in echelon; his bar tab has reached national deficit proportions, but the owner continues to extend credit because he knows the back-story. Which is that Arnie's wife, Sue Lynne (Rachel Weisz, putting on her sexpot floozy persona - and it's a pretty dang convincing one), plays around.

As you'll hear in this interview with director Wong, the Memphis story segment was written as something of a tribute to Tennessee Williams - so you might imagine that it will come to a less-than-happy conclusion. Romantic cruelty is the theme of the piece, with Ms. Weisz's character cracking the whip. (Now there's a potent image.)

Cut to a casino in small-town Nevada, where Elizabeth has hired on as a cocktail waitress. Arrayed around a poker table are several canny characters who look like they belong there, along with one fresh-faced dame who doesn't: Natalie Portman as Leslie, whose father (we come to find) has schooled her in the ways of gambling and - to hear her tell it - done a winning job of it. When she goes bust and then discovers that Liz has a car kitty socked away, the girls become fast friends. In Leslie, Elizabeth seems to find the kind of risk-taking alter ego she's been trying to birth from her own personality, and so she embraces the fiscally-risky partnership. But Leslie's not being entirely honest with her...

Finally, having reached the end of her figurative road, Elizabeth returns to the Big Apple, appearing on Jeremy's doorstep after a long absence, picking up precisely where they'd left off: in the kissing department.

Wong Kar Wai's movies are a delight to watch simply by virtue of their sensuousness, and this offering proves no exception. The color palette is markedly warm, with even the blueberry pie appearing orange. The night scenes are characterized by heavy film grain and low frame rate, lending an impressionist feel to things. Elevated trains rumble past in slow motion, their green-lit windows conjuring up the tinted visor worn by a railway ticket agent (or a poker dealer).

Ms. Jones does a quite serviceable job of acting given that this is her first time out of the chute. Granted, she'll win few accolades for this underplayed performance, but her unselfconsciousness and natural affinity for the camera should allow her plenty of opportunity to hone her acting chops, should she choose to pursue this career path. Mr. Law is charming and accessible as the sort of host/counselor personality type who seems perfectly suited to the proprietorship of a comfortable neighborhood hangout. Ms. Portman exudes the kind of hard-shelled flirty self-confidence that would stand her in good stead in a celebrity poker tourney. (Plus, she's gorgeous.) But the standout performances are turned in by Ms. Weisz and Mr. Strathairn as a tortured couple who can't seem to stop making each other miserable. I've known people like them, and some of them used to be me.

Like blueberry pie itself, this movie will not appeal to everyone. It's slow and twisty like a West Texas farm-to-market two-lane, with nothing like an Emerald City waiting at the terminus. But for those willing to order something a little different from the movie menu, it goes down good.

For another take on the movie, have a look at this.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS: "Tonight was my very last night of drinking." - Arnie

ARE WE TALKING POKER, OR LIFE?: "You can be lucky or you can be cheap - but you can't be both." - Leslie

HEAD OVER HEELS - THE DOWNSIDE: "He was so crazy about me, I couldn't breathe." - Sue Lynne