My Blueberry Nights

Wong Kar-wai: My Blueberry Nights (HK/CN/FR 2007). Jude Law (Jeremy) and Norah Jones (Elizabeth).

My Blueberry Nights / My Blueberry Nights. 

    HK/CN/FR 2007. PC: Block 2 Pictures, Jet Tone Production, Lou Yi Ltd., Studio Canal. 

    D: Wong Kar-wai. SC: Wong Kar-wai, Lawrence Block – based on the story by Wong Kar-wai. DP: Darius Khondji – 1:2,35. 

    Starring Norah Jones (Elizabeth), Jude Law (Jeremy), David Strathairn (Arnie), Natalie Portman (Leslie), Hector A. Leguillow (Cafe Cook), Rachel Weisz (Sue Lynne). 

    111 min

    Released by Cinema Mondo, Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Minna Nuutinen / Ditte Kronström. 

    Viewed at Kinopalatsi 7, Helsinki, 19 Jan 2008. 

This film has not gotten the best reviews, but it is my favourite Wong Kar-wai film so far. Or maybe I just caught up with him only now. He is the poet of urban solitude, and it's his first film in America. There are the bright, warm, and lurid colours, fearlessly displaying complementary colours such as green vs. orange. There is the urban noise. There are the traditional romantic ballads. The slow motion. The glass panels, the merciless lights, the reflections. The shots are like paintings or art photographs. There is a fresh look at the familiar American pop images (the highways, the casinos). It starts at the Kljutsh (The Key) Café in New York. It's a multi-story film about broken hearts on the way from New York to Las Vegas. It's based on metaphors: keys without owners, blueberry pies without customers, sobriety chips that are not redeemed, chips on the gambling table. I like the mixture of the mellow and the bitter.