Film Reviews

My Blueberry Nights

• Rating:
• Director: Kar Wai Wong
• Starring: Jude Law
• Details: Hong Kong / China /' France / 111 mins (12A)

A young woman who was being two-timed by her boyfriend has comforting chats with the manager of a New York cafe (Law), which results in her going on a road trip of self-discovery across America. On the way, she encounters a self-destructive alcoholic cop (Strathairn) and a beautiful card shark (Portman)- each with their own variations of lost love to express. Essentially a two hour-long philosophical pondering with very little actual narrative, Wong's English-language debut is beautiful to look at, with some excellent performances, but has far too sluggish a tone and gratingly pretentious execution to fully connect. As an acting debut for Jones, it's fairly solid, even if she does spend the vast majority of her screen-time observing other, much more interesting characters conveying their shattered emotions. Her Elizabeth is beautiful and vulnerable, but also inexplicably adolescent and far too languorous to really engage. However, as her obvious immaturity could be perceived as grounds to go on said road trip, she meets the film's two major plusses in Portman and Strathairn. Both are exceptional, and impress with precious little time - but it's David Strathairn who proves again just how good an actor he is by injecting every scene he's in with an underlining sorrow and depth you'd think inconceivable, given how little he has to work with. Portman, meanwhile, is like an adrenaline shot in the arm, bringing some much-needed personality and charisma to proceedings. Sporadically irritating, and occasionally becoming lost up its own arse, My Blueberry Nights will undoubtedly please certain quarters of the art-house sector, but fail to stimulate viewers as a whole.

Review by Mike Sheridan