Share your thoughts!
Did you enjoy Blue enough to go ahead and watch the rest of the trilogy? (I did, just need to find time for the rest.)
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I've been out of town, and I'd like to watch this again prior to discussing. I'll attempt to do so tonight. Also, can you please add me to the shout-out list? Thanks! Also, also - I would like to nominate Fisher King as the next film in honor of Robin Williams and because it is easily in my top 10 all time films.
Sounds like a good movie :) I watched "The angriest man in Brooklyn" on the plane a couple days ago without knowing Robin Williams was in it... and then he tries to commit suicide in the movie! That was creepy. (sorry for the spoilers but the movie is not really worth watching so I didn't ruin much for you guys, don't worry)
So I didn't watch it this weekend...but I've seen it a few times before. Film school will do that to you. Here's what I remember. Beautiful shots. Long shots. Meandering shots. The music being amazing and striking - different from other things I had watched. My heart hurting. The opening car crash scene. The starkness and isolation and loneliness and craving. Beautifully painful scenes of quietness. Rewinding back and watching a scene over and over and noting the camera operation and movement. (Film school will do that to you, too). I remember nothing of the story or the plot. I don't remember about what actually happens. I believe the main woman's child died in the crash? And then she deals with it? I'm sure there is more. Or perhaps not. I remember reading mixed reviews online after watching it. I suppose I was trying to figure something out. I think what I remember years after seeing a film can provide some value to how successful or unsuccessful a film is. I probably first watched it at 16 (2006) and again in 2008 and 2009 at NYU.
You're just about right, both her husband and daughter are killed. And then she deals with it. But I have to agree the cinematography is amazing, especially the opening crash scene. I'm still trying to figure out what the fades to black are for within the same scene like pseydtonne mentioned.
For me, the "fades to black" seem to be a way to give us a view in to the internal dialog in Julie's mind. It's a dialog comprised of music. She doesn't need to take the possessions of her husband/child with her in order to visit them, or be near them. She only need close her eyes and hear the music. She is both recalling and composing during these moments. This isn't always a source of comfort for her. She wishes she could simply throw away the scores of music, burn them up and be done with it and have a clean start, but music exists beyond the written page and though she wishes to only live with the new emerging music, it's not that simple. -It's in her head and she is constantly reminded of that fact. -From the man playing the recorder outside her building, Olivier's insistence on resurrecting her husbands (her) final opus. These "fades to black" give us glimpses in to this struggle. That's my take on it.
I have never seen them before (I honestly never even heard of them, how come?) and I shall watch the rest of the trilogy soon because I really liked Blue. I'm amazed at how much you get to know the characters and how deeply considering how little screen time they all get. We only get to see the cleaning lady once or the boy only twice, but they still feel real. I guess that's the difference between having characters for the sake of advancing the plot and having characters because they bring something to the narrative.
I just watched it again and I have to agree that the characters are very rich despite little dialog. It's fantastic writing/directing. There isn't a tremendous amount of dialog because with great acting, words aren't as necessary. Juliet Binoche is absolutely incredible in this. But then, all of the actors are. Julie to the cleaning lady: Why are you crying? Cleaning lady: Because you are not. Welp, that was officially the moment that I started crying. This film was gorgeous to look at, the pacing was fantastic, the acting superb and the subject matter compelling on many levels. It has political metaphors, personal loss and redemption and tons of symbolism throughout. I enjoyed every minute and every scene. I had watched this about 9 or 10 years ago and recalled enjoying it then, but I have to say that now, as a father, it had a much more profound impact on me. I can't imagine that loss, I don't want to even try. Edit: It's worth noting that the music in this film is dialog. Pretty amazing stuff. In the previous post about this film, pseydtonne wrote: Oh dear. Look, I want to warn everyone that hasn't seen it already: Blue is weak enough that it'd put you off from seeing White or anything else by the director. This would be a mistake, because White is some superb, compelling story-telling.
Here's a warning: I think someone held a gun to the film editor's head and said "fade to black, but keep the sound rolling... and fade back up on the same damn scene. See, that's ART!"
-I completely disagree. You wisely note that the sound is still rolling. This accompanied by the "fading to black," thrusts us in to the dialog of music occurring. We get a glimpse in to Julie's fantastic mind. Is it ART!? -Yep, some of the best art I've encountered in a good long while. I would be (and am) encouraged to watch White and Red now, and my guess is that others would be too.