Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Romantic comedies are an incredibly difficult genre to wring any originality from. It has a tried and tested formula and one in which almost every single film of this nature follows to a tee. Which means that, to a certain degree, a romantic comedy is completely hamstrung by it's genre before it has even begun; there will never be any surprises in store for the audience. Well very refreshingly, Crazy, Stupid, Love approaches the genre from a very real and surprising place. For once, a romantic comedy has it's fair share of originality and twists that does wonders for the story. Led by the directors of last years uber-unconventional and very rude I Love You, Philip Morris, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, seem to have carved out a nice original niche in genre films. This films surprise factor plays a huge part in why the film works as well as it does. However, when a film is this tightly written and performed with spark by a great cast then any stale notions of what the genre might entail are swiftly forgotten. Love, it seems can drive people to do the most irrational of things. The most confusing and yet common emotion, the film rather smartly explores variations on the theme. Unrequited teenage lust, stale marriage woes and those first exciting springs of discovery in someone new are all smartly woven throughout the story. As a result, the film is most certainly romantic, but not in erring to the overly sentimental side of things. Unsurprisingly, sex has a huge part to play in connections with others. Steve Carell stars as Cal, a 40-something going through a very painful divorce with his wife, Julianne Moore. Frustrated by love and hamstrung by a very nerdish demeanor, professional womaniser Jacob (Ryan Gosling) takes him under his wing to help teach him the ways of the mysterious woman. So what follows is a Hitch of sorts, with plenty of comedic material being derived from Cal's unfortunate adventures in this strange new world. Of course, things are not as simple as that, and the film has plenty of more tricks up it's sleeve throughout. Led by a smart, sassy and sexy script, characters are subtly developed so that while certain motivations for things might not be initially obvious, the more time we spend with these people, the more we understand about them. Wisely the film does not spoon feed the audience, but rather let's it's characters naturally progress onto events and earn the confusion, emotion and comedy that the film does so well. The only thing that the film let's itself down in, in fact, is a trite denonoument that trips over all the cliches and conventions it had smartly avoided for most of it's running time. It's not enough to derail the film, but it does leave a bad after taste when everything before was so much stronger. Overall, the film is a refreshing success. There was plenty of potential pitfalls throughout but for the most part, the film is an entertaining, witty and smart take on an otherwise stale genre. It also has the best scene set on a lawn you will see this year.

Verdict: 7/10
Apart from a disappointingly mundane and cheesy ending, the film offers plenty to say on the reality of love and sex and everything in between. A tight script effortlessly interweaves through a fantastic cast and the film has a fresh take on romance than is usual for a film of this type. Who says romance is dead?

"Crazy, Stupid, Love." Trailer

Drive

How does Ryan Gosling do it? The man is in front row to be my hero of 2011. His acting talent grows ever more intriguing and varied with each role he undertakes and he has a great eye for picking fantastic parts in great films. Blue Valentine  is quite possibly one of my favourite films this year, this week he is in two notable release (the other being Crazy Stupid Love) and with George Clooney's The Ides of March garnering serious oscar buzz for later on in the year the mans star wattage shows signs of growing ever brighter. Hands in the air, I have a serious man-crush on the guy. However here he achieves greater acclaim for making a quilted sports jacket with a gold scorpion on the back while mysteriously chewing a tooth pick look like just about the most stylish thing you may see all year. Drive is for all it's hints of loneliness and existentialism is far more concerned with smooth and pretty surfaces. Like Gosling's unnamed character, the film might have torrents of emotion running underneath, but it rarely lets them out. Unless to cave someone's head in that is. Drive might be ultimately shallow and even perhaps contrived at times in it's storytelling but when everything is handled as well as it is, it's hard not to fall in love with it's arthouse/action stylings. Dutch director Nicholas Winding Refn (him off ultra violent and questionably pretentious fare like Bronson or Valhalla Rising) deserves applause for delivering stale plot threads and characters through anything but standard means. Through every frame, the film brims with gorgeous images and subdued, yet vibrant colours. The story goes that upon Gosling and Winding Refn's first meeting, the heavily medicated director, recovering from a cold, burst into tears in a flood of inspiration at hearing REO Speedwagon on the radio. This was their 'Driver'. A lonely guy who drives around on his own all night listening to 80's pop music. True to his word, Drive is the perfect marriage of 70's/80's car chase 'heist gone wrong' thrillers, updated with a cool indie sheen. And it's all breathless, adrenaline inducing stuff.

From it's credits of retro indie beats mixed with pink font you know there is something striking in store. Gosling plays the Driver with no Name who works as a Hollywood stuntman while moonlighting as a getaway driver at night. His life is one of solitude and never getting too close to anybody. That is until new neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan) moves in with her son and the two strike up a relationship. As the Driver begins to melt his hard exterior and get close to this new family, his violent past comes crashing back into everyones lives. Along the way, supporting characters are filled out by fantastic character actors from Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston (his usual reliable self), Ron Perlman (having great fun), Oscar Isaac (about the only one who escaped from Sucker Punch untainted) Christina Hendricks (fans of Mad Men will not be happy with her limited screen time) and the usually typecast Albert Brooks. Brooks in particular is mesmerizing. Usually seen in childrens fare and nice guy roles, here he plays the psychotic main antagonist to fantastic effect. Interestingly, he is infused with layers making his violent actions all the more shocking and unpredictable. Surely an oscar nod can't be far off? And then there is Gosling. Given little to no lines throughout, Gosling gives a hypnotic and quietly powerful performance and one that is sure to be remembered in cult circles for years. Winding cast his film perfectly and everyone delivers in their respective parts. That is, apart from Mulligan. A usually fantastic talent, she is never less than entrancing in anything I have seen her in prior. Unfortunately here she seems distractingly miscast and is given little or nothing to do. One minor flaw in a fantastic film. Spontaneously prone to breaking out in hyper violence as it is in 80's synths, the film is certainly one of the more memorable you will see. Gorgeously shot and impeccably acted, Winding Refn has crafted one of the best of the year with scenes that will stick with you for a long time after. An art house version of an action film and one that is filled with as much quiet moments of introspection as it is in gun fights and car chases. Channeling the vibe of Bullitt and early Michael Mann, Drive is every bit as exciting and interesting as that might expect. While it's title might suggest revving auto parts; what it in fact refers to, is the driving force behind decisions and what consequences they may take.

9/10
Stylish, exciting and frequently adrenaline pulsing stuff, this takes the stale notions of what a crime movie might usually entail and turns them into a far more interesting and memorable experience. It may not be deep, but Winding Refn handles the atmosphere perfectly and delivers one of the sure to be favourites of the year.

"Drive" Trailer

Blue Valentine

A script 12 years in the writing. A constantly starting and halting production. An original release date of 2008. A lead actor almost dropping out of filming. For any other film, such reportings might be cause for concern. After all, if a film has this much going against it, then surely it can't be worth it unless it is something special. And if there is a word to describe "Blue Valentine" it is, at the very least special. A fragile and often uncomfortable look into the fickleness of love and relationships. It is a film, that if all its encompassing factors had not been so specifically in place, it is quite possible we would not be left with the mini masterpiece we have here. Having directed one little seen feature over a decade ago, director Derek Cianfrance set his resources into getting this picture made. Quite obviously a labour of love for everybody involved, it was honed and crafted over the years, adding vital slices of real life experience into its script. If the film is one thing, it is honest. It is a frank look at the breakdown of a relationship when sometimes for nothing or everything, love one day, just leaves us. After searching endlessly for his leads, he found Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, so perfect for their roles. After Heath Ledgers untimely death, Cianfrance, out of respect for Williams and their daughter, halted production. A lesser director might have recast the part, but Cianfrance knew just how vital Williams was to her role. A change of location in the script, some delays in its release and a run in with the MPAA and it is quite lucky that the film is even here at all, much less the work of beauty that it is.

Working as a far more tragic and bleak version of "(500) Days of Summer", the film charts the breakdown of a marriage over the course of one weekend, while cutting back to the original sparks of love first igniting between the pair many years earlier. This could be seen as stylish and gimmicky for the sake of it, yet through this, the director highlights some important contrasts in character outlook and perspective. The overall question of 'where does love go?' is not an easy one, but by bringing us back to those early, happier days, we can gauge the various reasons and choices that have led our two protagonists to this point. Not that it is quite as simple as that, Cianfrance never points the finger at either members, rather acutely observing the destruction unfold. Life sometimes gets in the way it seems. As 'Dean', Gosling gives an exuberant performance. A man simply committed to his wife and daughter, and not much else, through his perpetual childishness we see reasons for Cindys gradual despising and original blossoming love for him. As 'Cindy', Williams, delivers an astonishingly subtle performance. Her coming to terms with what is happening juxtaposed with Goslings 'die hard romantic-fight til the death' is profound. Their studying of the characters for years in the productions many starting and stoppings, must have led to a deep understanding on the actors behalf. The fact that before filming began, both Gosling and Williams lived together as a family, adds to the unbearable realness of it all.

Cianfrance shot with little or no rehearsal and insisted on capturing most of the scenes on the first take. The acting is as raw and gritty as the script calls for. Cianfrances camera puts the audience in the middle of it. To say the film is uncomfortable is an understatement. At any given time it feels the viewer is eavesdropping on a couples demise. If the film was initially slapped with an NC-17 on its American release, it is not down to the frank nature of the sex scenes, but rather the feelings of realness it injects. The filmmakers have pondered that perhaps it was too real and that is what led to their downfall. Had the film received the rating it was initially stamped with, it would have been the death knell for it. It would not have received nearly the same audience it deserves and if anything, the only thing the film is truly explicit in, is emotion. While harvesting some all too real truths about both members of the opposite sex, the film also provides some illuminations on the first awakenings of love. Gosling playing ukulele while Williams tap dances is just one hauntingly beautiful soon to be classic scene in a film full of them. The film is tough and painful but only as it should be. As a result, it would not be described as a fun or entertaining evenings watch. But caught in the right mood however, with no distractions, then the film will soon take over. It might be easy to play the blame game with both characters, but like reality, it is not as simple as that. Everybody and nobody is to blame. Life is life. In all its mysterious glory, who can predict why things happen the way they do? Of course, by that rationale, who could have predicted how searingly beautiful "Blue Valentine" would ever go on to be, or that it would even exist at all.

Verdict: 88%

A stunningly observed dissection of love and relationships. It may not be fun and easy, but it is important and forces you to ask substantial questions about your life. The actors transform into a space where that on screen is reality, and we have walked in on something painful, real, true and most importantly, beautiful.

"Blue Valentine" Trailer