My Blueberry Nights

Plot synopsis:
Jeremy is an émigré from Manchester who owns a small New York City cafe. The cafe becomes a haven for Elizabeth, a young woman, as Jeremy tells her that he saw her boyfriend cheating on her. Devastated, she stays in his cafe the entire night, eating a blueberry pie he made, and also telling stories about each other. Jeremy, having an eidetic memory, explains to her the bowl of keys he is keeping, knowing the story of every person who left the key in his cafe and keeping it in the bowl in case someone comes back for them. Elizabeth leaves her key of her apartment and leaves Jeremy's cafe.
Elizabeth, now calling herself Lizzie, eventually drifts to Memphis, Tennessee, where she takes two jobs, waitress by day and barmaid by night, in order to earn enough money to finance the purchase of a car. She regularly sends postcards to Jeremy, taking a liking to him, without revealing where she lives or works and, although he tries to locate her by calling all the restaurants in the area, he fails to find her. Later on, he decides to send out postcards to any restaurants she may be to try to find her.
One of Lizzie's regulars at both jobs is local police officer Arnie Copeland, an alcoholic who cannot accept the fact his wife Sue Lynne has left him and is flaunting her freedom by openly socializing with a younger man named Randy. He confesses to Lizzie his many attempts at achieving sobriety have ended in failure, taking many AA meetings but failing. One night off duty in the bar where Lizzie works, he drunkenly threatens Sue Lynne with his gun if she leaves. Later on, Arnie drives drunk and dies after crashing into a pole. Lizzie comforts Sue Lynne at the crash site, before leaving town, and is given the money towards Arnie's tab at the bar, revealing to Lizzie that she made a mistake and that she misses him. The place where he died is also the place where they met, suggesting that he may have committed suicide.
Heading west, Elizabeth – now calling herself Beth – gets another waitress job at a casino in a small town in Nevada. Here she meets Leslie, an inveterate poker player who has lost all her money. Beth agrees to lend her $2200 she has in exchange for a third of her winnings or her car, a Jaguar XK, if she loses. When she does lose, she fulfills her promise by giving Beth her Jaguar, but asks her to drive her to Las Vegas so she can borrow money from her father, whom she has not seen in a long time.
While en route Leslie receives a call from a Vegas hospital, where her father has been admitted and is dying. She believes the call is simply a ruse to lure her home, but upon arrival in Vegas she discovers her father died the previous night. Leslie announces she wants to keep the car, which she had stolen from her father, who had sent her the title and registration despite their estrangement. She confesses she really won the card game and gives Beth her promised share of the winnings, which she uses to finally purchase the car she always wanted.
Elizabeth returns to Manhattan and, discovering her ex-boyfriend has vacated his apartment and moved on with his life, returns to the cafe, where Jeremy has had a stool at the counter reserved for her ever since she left. As she eats a slice of blueberry pie, Elizabeth realizes her feelings for him are reciprocated. She passes out on the counter after spending the night, and Jeremy kisses her while she is asleep, and she returns the kiss as the film ends.

Tags: romantic, boring, sentimental, flashback

Review:
You see the hopeless romantic, the one person who let the other inside instead of just sticking to the outside, and for whom losing the other is worst than death; then there is the rebellious daughter that loves and hates her father until it's to late to do anything either way; and of course, the story of Nora Joneses and Jude Law's characters.Bottom line: lay comfy in your bed and listen to the slow rhythms of the music while digesting the human nature presented in the film.
The beautiful Ms. Jones's character, variously known as Elizabeth, Lizzie, Beth, or Betty, turns up at a New York café run by Jeremy (Jude Law), a guy from Manchester, England, drenched in love-longing because her man has dumped her for somebody else.
Soon he will be alone, and Lissie will be away.This time instead of improvising as in the past, which among other things contributed to his last film, 2046, a kind of summation of his Chinese themes and characters, taking five years to finish, Wong made up his story, with Norah in mind, and then had it turned into a finished screenplay (subject to plenty of revisions, of course) by crime novelist Lawrence Block.
Through all of this Lizzie constantly sends Jeremy a stream of postcards that are a kind of intimate diary, and he desperately tries to track her down by phone and letter, without success.Every young filmmaker dreams of making a road movie, Wong Kar Wai has said.
This movie seems to have met before.The Rachel Weisz part make me think of Texas,Paris the moment I heard the monologue.The idea crossing the America is not fresh either.As to Norah Jones,her role is just like Amélie.But there's something sweet in all these.Unlike Amélie who tries to help others,Elizabeth is merely a witness to all those things,aiming at finding a way to say goodbye to her failure in love.When she finally think herself prepared to say goodbye,the person who broke her heart is not there any more,and it's time to start a new relationship with Jude Law If you want to see something serious,I'm sorry,you may be disappointed.But if you just enjoy the atmosphere in a romantic movie,you will be satisfied.But it doesn't mean that it's a popcorn movie.Apart from the typical Kar Wai Wong style scenes,music,there's something to think over.You will think of something,think of your own love story in this story.
The performances are wonderful.Rachel Weisz makes you into the mood the moment she walks into the bar.David Strathairn is wonderful.Natalie Portman makes you know that she is a real actress with great talent(maybe someone will be uncomfortable to her changes).Jude Law and Norah Jones together gives you a sense of warm,and they are really suitable in the roles of bar assistant or boss.Kar Wai Wong makes Faye Wong transform from an excellent singer to an excellent performer.Norah Jones's music is wonderful, and her performance is surprising to me,succeed in a good listener and witness The music,cinematography,etc are typical Kar Wai Wong style.Kar Wai Wong loves to put jazz in his movie,and Jones's vocal makes you exciting at the beginning of the movie.everything is magnified,in order to show the beauty hiding in the fine points.The light is a story teller in this movie,maybe weired but fascinating.Kar Wai Wong borrowed a piece of music from The Motorcycle Diaries,indicating that Elizabeth has managed to get rid of the failure in love.
Kudos to Kar Wai Wong.Plus jude law looks extra yummy, and they all seem to really love eating in the film.Although it was a bit slow, and i felt like i am in a country song, kind of like a norah jones song but yet it was strangely beautiful!
The best of these performances goes to Rachel Weisz and David Straitharn, who gives much more complexity to their underwritten characters than they should have and if they both had a real script to work with, their story would have been a great movie in itself but the script holds them back like a anchor and you can see that they are trying to keep a straight face while saying some of the lame dialog from the script.
Jude Law is really not in the movie much at all and Natalie Portman is the worst served by all of this because despite her up hill battle to give a good performance with how unfocused the script is, she does not have much of a story to work with.I feel bad for Wong Kar Wai, he could have made a much better film than this, especially with the great talent he had working for him but the script is what killed this film and no amount of great talent could have saved it..
Movie Review: My Blueberry Nights (2008) By Ken LeeThe filmic language of this film is unmistakably WKW, and it won't be wrong for one to say it's reminiscent of his earlier works, chief of which, "Chungking Express"; but it doesn't surpass past achievements, and does not bring us to the "next level", figuratively speaking.A sentiment that may at once appears to be a bit too harsh, necessarily, this may be.
But we do come to expect more from WKW, almost a master, in this age of ours.Weak plot aside, this film benefits from some truly wonderful (supporting) casts throughout, especially from David Strathairn and Rachel Weisz, except for the most important - the ingénue character that Norah portrays.
Symptomatic of this problem is, despite limited screen time together, one can't help wanting to find out more about the Katya character, who seems to share more on screen chemistry with Jeremy (Jude Law) in that cameo, and their past relationship seems a very promising spin-off, in its own right.And if a post-modern pastiche can be made unto this film, imagine if it's the doll eye Faye Wong (of Chungking Express' fame) with Jude Law in this film...Ten minutes into the film, when the "Yumeiji theme" (in harmonica) used so prevalently in "In the Mood for Love" was played in the background, I was almost teary eyes.
None of these characters connect with each other; they say they want to, but it's only the lighting that makes us foolishly expect that one of these dolts is a half-baked person.Smart, solid & creative actors did their best with an aimless story, especially Rachel & David, but the film is devoid of originality, wit & real emotion..
It did get marginally better as Elizabeth (Jones' character) leaves Jeremy's blueberry pies behind and goes on a self-discovering journey across America, though this might be more due to a wonderful performance by her co-stars.David Strathairn especially deserves recognition.
They both need to start out on their own journey  either in a physical sense or, in Jeremy's case, emotionally  to find their way back to where they started.Kar-Wai's movie is, as always, slow-paced, very emotional  every vibration of the spirit accentuated by the songs and lyrics of Norah Jones , with situations not very likely to occur in everyday life.
My Blueberry Nights (2007) *** out of **** Directed by Wong Kar WaiWith Norah Jones, Jude Law, Davis Strathairn, Rachel Weisz and Nataly Portman.Well made, catching romantic drama about Jones facing certain love stories.
The usual suspects are there: the delicate balance of man-woman relationships; an eatery with hard-working and personable owner; simple, clean typographic design (time and distance flashed on screen for mind association); neon lights - camera approaches: subjects shot through the 'looking-glass' facilitating in the moment observer experience; and no escape: he likes to include a cop in uniform in his stories (smile).
Also, Wong's attention to selections of music in the background - that 'silent' collaborative touch to a WKW storytelling is again appreciated, and we are given the masterful strains of Ry Cooder.Jude Law is Jeremy the affable 'cafe' owner in NY (in his ever casual eloquence & performance in economy), the connection to Nora Jones' Elizabeth (Lizzie/Beth), a love-lost forlorn young woman in search of 'redemption' from being 'forsaken'.
Strathairn is always in his effortless performance impeccable - joy to watch in spite of the misery his character is in.'My Blueberry Nights' is also sort of a road movie, where Beth moves on to Nevada casinos and encountered Natalie Portman's Leslie - another layered delivery.
The dialogs, so filled with metaphors that confuse, that do not inspire admiration towards the characters but imbalance for the lack of clarity that makes you doubt if both are thinking the same thing.Natalie Portmanit made me suffer to listen to her speak with such a decadent accent, representing a trite personage who does not manage to gain affect from the audience despite her tragical past.It is a good movie, with many good individual elements, a promising script and an excellent cast that, in my opinion, do not achieve the necessary compatibility..
Working with a gleaming American cast mostly consisting of exceptional actors, Wong Kar- Wai employs his expected colorful, almost fetishistic visual richness, depicted essentially by glitzy blows of vivid colors in close union to embody the moody impressions of light and tint on people and objects, in this John Rechy-esquire drill concerning a host of lovelorn people, beginning with Jude Law, who runs a café in New York City.
Any time you put the lovely Norah Jones, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz in a film directed by Wong Kar-Wai, you're guaranteed to get a beautiful-looking movie.
Touching the dinerman, played brilliantly by Jude Law, (thank God they allowed him to play a Brit, because his bad American accent would have totally ruined the part, much like Rachel Weisz's fake southern one almost did), on a spiritual level, in a way that will play a major part in his future confrontation with the one that got away, his set of keys laid in the jar above his bar for too many years; giving a depressed drunk a reason to believe that the world isn't all bad, one shining beacon of light to bring him out of the funk he has been in since the woman he loved found she could no longer be with him, (David Strathaim truly steals the entire film with his performance, absolutely fantastic); and having the trust to lend some cash to a girl in her element of high stakes Texas Hold'Em, while also teaching her that there was more to life than just reading people and knowing their next moveit's just too bad she did not learn it sooner, especially after the person who taught her to be a cynic had given her the gift of love through a FedEx package, (Natalie Portman, in a role that you would not expect from her, very good, very funny, and most of all very real).
The first part might serve to be confusing as it transcends time, much like the need for taking visual cues from Maggie Cheung's cheongsam in ITMFL, and before you know it, a relatively intimate encounter makes Elizabeth journey off in a road trip.Norah Jones adds a certain vulnerability to her Elizabeth, and I admire her character for taking time off to find herself and just to be sure, instead of plunging head long to another potential relationship (c'mon, it's Jude Law, you know?).
While the movie might be running on an emotional tank testing the limits as the needle approaches E, I just love that million-takes lip lock between Law and JOnes, and I thought that pretty much was worth the price of a ticket, really.My Blueberry Nights is still delectable, except that when compared to the greatness of WKW's filmography, this seemed like pandering himself to Western audiences (there's no need to actually!) by (re)introducing them to his works done thus far, and in doing so, becomes a blip in the radar.
Wong Kar-Wai's first film in English is a dream-like, romantic road flick starring Norah Jones in her acting debut.
She does a pretty decent job for someone with no previous acting experience, but it's Kar-Wai's directing and the supporting cast that carry the movie.Even though it lacks the depth and wholesomeness of "In the Mood for Love", "My Blueberry Nights" is just as hypnotic as "Chungking Express", and more satisfying than the ambitious and slightly overrated "2046".
That and some other interesting bitties like that fact that the director (Wong) and lead actress (Norah Jones) both share a dislike in blueberry pies AND how Jeremy (Jude Law)'s character run a diner named "Klyuch", meaning "key" in Russian.
My Bluberry Nights tells the story of Elizabeth -played by Norah Jones- a girl with a broken heart who leaves NY for a journey of emotional healing around the States working in several night cafés and pubs and meeting different characters with which she gets involved.
In fact, the characters of the movie remind us of those characters that we've seen in noir films of the 50s and 60s, but still they are played with conviction and portrayed with passion.The night is filmed with great style and feeling, and the music really helps the viewer to go inside and be part that magical and dangerous urban space of the night of any American city.Especially good in their acting, actually really great, are Rachel Weisz, David Strathairn and Natalie Portman in their respective roles.
Despite its status as a low-budget, independent feature, "My Blueberry Nights" boasts a roster of A-list players - Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman - that any mainstream filmmaker would consider it a privilege to work with.In her big screen acting debut, singer Norah Jones plays Elizabeth, a beautiful young woman from New York who, after her boyfriend dumps her, decides to head out across the country to try and forget about her past and make a new life for herself.
In addition, Law plays a café owner back in the city who introduces Lizzie to the delights of blueberry pie and who serves as the letter-writing confidante and emotional focal point the wayward young lady needs while she's off on her travels.As conceived by director Wong Kar Wai and co-writer Lawrence Block, the vignettes aren't all that terribly interesting, actually, but the artful look and tone give the film a hip, sophisticated flavor.
My Blueberry Nights is an OK movie starring Jude Law,Rachel Weisz,Natalie Portman,David Strathairn and Norah Jones who did an OK job since it's her first movie.Kar Wai Wong's direction is practically good.The problem is that i personally don't like this style of directing.It's to modern for my taste.Every city looks like Las Vegas.Too many light mixing if i can say it that way.The script,i think had some holes and was a bit childish.The storyline was original,more or less,'not' because it turn's out to be just another love movie,'yes' because it's not just another love movie until it comes close to the ending.Then you notice that it is.Anyway,i don't want to write a six page comment on a movie that wasn't made for something more than just fun,so i'm just gonna say that it's a fun movie that you wont regret watching if you don't expect it to be anything more!!!.
And given the pedigree and style we should have.Dialed-in performances from Jude Law, a Natalie Portman being all lost and confused, with a good acting turn from Norah Jones doesn't alter the fact that is essentially therapy as film.Rather depressing and all a bit lost for our money this is like watching a mix of romance and drama all done on medication.Really.Slow - unbelievably so, down, plain depressing.There may be elements of hope - but it just ain't worth the journey from broken hearts to healed hearts.For our money My Blueberry Nights truly lacks anything worth talking about afterward - sure there are lots of speech, and it's all worthy, but really, really left us cold, and unmoved.Sorry, but left us cold....
I've seen all of Wong Kar-Wai's films, and while My Blueberry Nights has generally been considered a good example of wheel-spinning by many of his critics and fans, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I think this is his best work yet.
I did not like director Wong Kar Wai's work till I saw his great short for the movie Eros.And,now with the excellent film My Blueberry Nights,my perception about Kar Wai is changing.I had not liked In the Mood for Love,Happy Together and 2046...I had found them pretentious and boring.Now,My Blueberry Nights is all the contrary.This film is not pretentious at all and it entertained me.The story from this film is simple but at the same time deep and intelligent and it also makes a very detailed characterization of characters.The performances are excellent.Norah Jones is a revelation.Her performance in this movie is simply extraordinary and she shows much more presence than a lot of Hollywood "stars" (for example,Julia Roberts).Jude Law,Rachel Weisz,Natalie Portman and David Straithairn were perfectly chosen for their characters.The only complain I have against this movie is that some moments feel a little bit forced.But,in spite of that,My Blueberry Nights is an excellent film which deserves to be seen..
Sometimes Wong paints unequivocally beautiful imagery; most notable for me is when Elizabeth, played by Norah Jones in her first film role, falls asleep after having too much blueberry pie and ice cream, and her face is in full close-up, a little of the remnants around her mouth, and Jude Law's Jeremy goes in slowly for a kiss.
She has a long journey to make.Norah Jones is sensational and almost competes with the other great actors like Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz and David Strathaim.