One Thing Leads to Another
In terms of discovering art, I think there’s a lot to be said for following your nose. The logic follows: if you like one book by an author, it’s worth reading another. If there’s a director who makes great movies, why not watch them all? Even better is to find out what inspired the people that make the things that inspire you. Who’s your favorite poet’s favorite poet? Favorite painter? Secret muse?
After recently rewatching I Heart Huckabees (a movie which will most certainly have its own post, maybe soon) I felt like I wanted to follow the thread of Jude Law. I’m not exactly sure why. I’ve also recently seen him in Closer, a film I’m still on the fence about and admittedly only watched after seeing stills of Natalie Portman in a bubblegum-pink wig posing as a stripper (I am only human). Anyway, I liked the performances I’d seen from Law, and in perusing his filmography I came across My Blueberry Nights.
The cover promised pretty faces, Natalie Portman coincidentally among them, and a fair amount of sentimentality if I was reading the rose-y hues and heavy bokeh correctly. Spoiler: I was. Moreover, it was free to watch, so I did. And in short, I’m glad.
In the Mood for Dessert
It wasn’t until after I started watching that I learned My Blueberry Nights is actually a Wong Kar-wai film. Hey-oh! Even if I hadn’t caught his name in the opening credits, I’d like to believe I still would have known it was his right away. WKW is the king of colored light in cinema, and this film is as much an example as any other. For all it may have lacked in depth of story or character it made up for in sheer visual delight and a surety of mood.
I don’t mean to gloss over my criticism here; I have no issue ceding that, as some of the film’s critics accurately point out, the narrative is “sweet but slight.” It is. I’m still sympathetic. Maybe it’s because I find some of the same challenges in my own fiction writing. As in, we’ve come all this way, but for what? Have the character’s changed? Have we changed? I don’t mean to compare myself to Wong Kar-wai, I only mean that the problems that arise with this plot are ones that are familiar to me.
But here’s the thing: I forgive it. For me, this film is like a song with so-so lyrics but beautiful, full-bodied instrumentals. It’s a pleasure for the senses regardless of the depth of dialogue. No, it’s certainly not In the Mood for Love. But it’s also not so terribly far from it that I wouldn’t enjoy watching it again. I’d even pay to rent it.
