STUDIO: The Weinstein Company
RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2008
STARRING: Norah Jones, Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, Cat Power, and Natalie Portman
WRITTEN BY: Wong Kar Wai & Lawrence Block
DIRECTED BY: Wong Kar Wai
GENRE: Drama
RATING: PG-13

I have a long history of disappointing English teachers. And I mean that as a verb, not an adjective, Dr. Caldwell. It's not that the teachers themselves were bad - a few of them defined who I am and what I do - but I always felt like I was letting them down. Why? They often told me I was. They would usually give me the same explanation when I was frustrated by what I felt were harsher standards than my peers: you have to be harder on the students you think can do better. And I don't mean that to sound egotistical (I never quite understood why they thought I could do better) but that theory - that we have a higher bar to hurdle for people who have proven they can make the jump - can easily be translated to several arenas outside of the English classroom, especially that of film criticism. When you see a new movie by Martin Scorsese, Joel Coen, or Quentin Tarantino, it's literally impossible to completely view it apart from what they've done before and naive to think that either you can or that you should. Everything should be viewed in the context of not just current cinema, but what's come before. So, when a filmmaker makes Happy Together, Chungking Express, 2046, and the absolute masterpiece In the Mood For Love and then brings a drastically sub-par effort to Cannes, it makes sense that there's a bit of an overreaction. The boos from last year's Cannes Film Festival after a screening of My Blueberry Nights could be heard across the pond, but, to be fair, it's not that bad. But, and this is coming from as big as Wong Kar Wai fan as you're ever going to meet, it's not very good either.

My Blueberry Nights marks not just the English-language debut of WKW but the acting premiere of chanteuse Norah Jones. Before we get into the plot, I'm sure you want to know if she's any good. She's so-so at best, appearing much more awkward than she should and paling next to the VERY talented supporting cast (including great work by David Strathairn and Natalie Portman), but she does have an easy-going screen charisma that could develop into something if she worked on making her dialogue sound more organic and less memorized. Jones plays Elizabeth, a young woman who stumbles across a diner owner named Jeremy (Jude Law) on the night that she happens to catch her boyfriend with another man. Elizabeth spends her nights spilling her guts to Jeremy over blueberry pie, and it's not until she decides to take an existential road trip that she realizes Jeremy is the man for her. The rest of the film is made up, primarily, of two stories that Elizabeth finds herself a part of along her journey - one of a lonely, alcoholic cop (David Strathairn) who still pines for his ex-wife (Rachel Weisz) and another of a gorgeous poker player (Rachel Weisz) who needs Elizabeth to help her make a big bet and maybe even reconcile with her estranged father. Elizabeth is mostly along for the ride in what feels like a pair of dreamlike (and the film is structured in such a way that I thought they might actually be night visions) short films about love, loss, and loneliness.

When My Blueberry Nights played to angry audiences at Cannes, it ran 111 minutes. Now 21 minutes shorter, the film feels tragically incomplete. It's hard to say that a movie with such a loose plot and with a cameo by the excellent singer/songwriter Cat Power could be called mainstream - and it should be noted that I haven't seen the longer version - but Blueberry feels like its been compromised to appeal to the viewers who didn't like the original. The dreamlike motif of Wong Kar Wai's vision is stunted by the sensation that something is missing. I adore filmmakers who are willing to go all the way with their lack of narrative cohesion. Mullholland Drive and even 2046 would be great examples of films that successfully crossed from traditional storytelling to resemble something more like a dream. But a movie that goes halfway down that road and then not only ends suddenly but with a closing scene out of a traditional romantic drama is incredibly unsatisfactory. Maybe Wong Kar Wai works better in his own native tongue, although I don't believe that's the case. Filmmakers this talented work in any language. Maybe My Blueberry Nights was better at Cannes than the version now being released. Maybe even the greats can misstep. And, yes, if another filmmaker had made My Blueberry Nights, I would probably be able to recommend it, but knowing what Wong Kar Wai's capable of, I just can't shake the bitter feeling left by this sweet treat.