The bluest valentine in recent memory, this brilliant, raw portrait of a couple begins with a little girl hollering for her lost dog Megan and continues with her parents, each at the end of his/her rope. Then it cuts back to them single, meeting cute, and falling in love (Ryan Gosling is balding in the "future" and Michelle Williams' face has a tiny bit more padding, slightly shorter hair, plus almost no smiles). Yet they are the same people--he's controlling and perceptive and she's passive-aggressive, but it's two days when they're happy and two days when they're not. Each story progresses, with skillful editing between the two, to a natural conclusion. Williams (after I wrote about her in Wendy and Lucy she had a small part in Shutter Island) is deservedly Oscar-nominated for this role and Gosling was snubbed (he was terrific in everything I've seen: The United States of Leland (2003), Half Nelson (2006) which did earn him an Oscar nomination, Fracture (2007), and Lars and the Real Girl (2007)) due to the high quality of candidates this year (please stop telling me there aren't any good movies out there because there are and there always are). Where was I? Oh right. Faith Wladya plays the adorable little Frankie, sporting a cute short haircut that she got after donating 13 inches of her hair to Locks of Love. Wladya is articulate and probably has a good future in front of her. We couldn't help but notice her wrinkling her nose whenever she's close to her daddy, who almost always has a lit cigarette (perhaps I was projecting). However cute the kid is, though, DO NOT take your kids to see this. Even if they're old enough for the vivid sex scenes (one in particular, with an unusual camera angle, initially got this an NC-17 rating; however the producers appealed and got it changed) they'd be mortified seeing it with you. The script is grown-up. They don't tell us things twice, so pay attention.
It was scheduled to be shot in spring 2008 but delayed because of Heath Ledger's death. Credit goes to the production team for waiting until Williams (Ledger's unmarried widow) was available instead of recasting. This is the second feature for director/co-writer Derek Cianfrance (pronounced SEE-an-frahns) and it's fabulous. After seeing the movie, watch this 21 minute clip with Williams, Gosling, and Charlie Rose (there's a slight spoiler at 11 minutes).
No one is credited for an original score, but most of the songs are by the Brooklyn-based band Grizzly Bear, and a mix can be found on the soundtrack facebook page. Gosling sings You Always Hurt the One You Love (good choice) (listen to it on the trailer), an old song made famous by the Mills Brothers, and this avid imdb reader just submitted a correction, as they have a typo in the song title, printing Ones instead of One, since that's what Gosling sings, and every other blogger has pasted it in. The filmmakers dredged up an old unreleased single called You and Me by Penny and the Quarters. The cinematography is terrific, especially that scene on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Rottentomatoes gives this a high 89% for critics and 82% for audiences. Well deserved but definitely not a date movie for new or bickering couples. Just see it. Oh, but I almost forgot. I was warned that this would cause motion picture motion sickness, so I made a point of sitting in the very last row, where I could see the sides of the wall as well as the screen. Many of the scenes in the "past" are jumpy, but I was okay. Try it.
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