Blue Valentine (2010)
Especially after creating my watchlist for my Best of the Decade series I can confidently say that Ryan Gosling is one of my favorite working actors, he has had so many hits and it always excites me to see a film knowing that he is in it. Blue Valentine is a movie that always pops up at Walmart around Valentines Day and is a film I have heard nothing but good things about. All these elements made this movie one of my most anticipated films to finally check out from the 2010 section of this series, and I have to say that it is my favorite film of the series so far. I loved this movie and I easily could see it taking my top spot for 2010.
And first I must give huge props to the acting in this movie, after seeing La La Land I knew Ryan Gosling could give an amazing romantic performance but his chemistry with Michelle Williams is even better than that with Emma Stone in my opinion. The ups and downs that their relationship goes through feel so realistic and legitimate, it sucks you into their story and makes it hit even harder. The transformation that both go through is also really impressive, this follows them as they are young adults falling in love to when they are older dealing with the pressures and stress put on because of life and how they deal with the stress and expectations they face. This is a drastic change and the fact that not just their individual performances but also their relationship are so strong is extremely impressive.
The directing with this movie is also of really high quality, this movie jumps back and forth between two points in these characters lives which is normally a technique I am not the hugest fan of, but in this case, it actually really worked for me. Seeing the contrast of who these people were to who they currently were really interesting and I found that this technique added to the impact this film had as you had the constant contrast of the goods and the bads. You are never able to escape the negatives but also are not allowed to move on or forget the positives. The cinematography is also really impressive and does a great job at adding to the emotional heavy scenes especially. At the end of the day, the best thing I think I can say about Blue Valentine is that it hurt. It was able to create characters in a relationship that connected to me and made me feel real-world emotions. In so many ways this movie is a depressing film that makes me lose my faith in love and its a movie I never want to watch again, but that is a sign of just how good this movie is. There is such a quality in this movie that it hit me hard. It is just shy of reaching to my Personal Status category, this is something truly special in my opinion and if you haven't already please go out of your way to check it out, just not on valentines day with your significant other as Walmart would suggest.