Wong Kar Wai
Block 2 Pictures
(2007)
***
Like Nat King Cole’s "Christmas Song" in 2046 and the Mamas and the Papas’ "California Dreaming" in Chungking Express , Cat Power’s "The Greatest" serves as the memorable musical motif in Wong Kar Wai’s latest film My Blueberry Nights . In previous films, the director’s acumen in melting popular music into both the visceral and narrative elements of his films pushed him above most other directors. This time around, the technique fails him. This isn’t to say "The Greatest" isn’t a beautiful song. It is. It has the emotional power of a rose falling from a rooftop, and every time it plays it deftly embodies the richly painted heartbreak that so suffuses the Wong Kar Wai oeuvre. The problem is that the song is too fitting. Sonically, emotionally, lyrically. As opposed to his use of musical motif in his previous efforts, where the selection of music seemed rooted in character rather than theme, "The Greatest" aspires to be the film’s three-minute précis—its ambitions try too hard to be too much.

The film, like its music, is overly ambitious and simply does not bring enough resources to the table to execute this vision. You get the feeling Wong Kar Wai wants to create sprawling landscape of heartbreak. Instead, the final version bears only a few episodes of this vision, ultimately resulting in an either rushed or incomplete project.

My Blueberry Nights is being marketed as "a dramatic journey across the distance between heartbreak and a new beginning," and perhaps this, too, is too obvious. Nonetheless, soulful from the opening to the ending is Elizabeth (Norah Jones), a slightly feisty, teetering woman, ready to believe in something. Her three hundred-day journey begins in New York City as she strikes a bond with Jeremy (Jude Law), a café owner who remembers people by the food they order and who turns out to be Elizabeth’s complement in emotional symmetry. The bond begins when Jeremy attempts to curb Elizabeth’s midnight sadness with blueberry pie; and for a brief moment, we are led to believe that the "journey" could very well be from the customer’s side of the cafe counter to the proprietor’s. However, Elizabeth, too beset by fresh wounds left by her former lover, sets herself on a journey that takes her first down South where she closely witnesses the romantic irreconcilability between an alcoholic cop (David Strathairn) and his estranged wife (Rachel Weisz); and then sees her all the way to Reno, Nevada where she befriends a poker player (Natalie Portman) running a mean cold streak.

If this all seems a bit disjointed and a bit like a set-up for something obvious – that’s simply because it is. Wong Kar Wai’s films have always involved themselves with unique set-ups that demonstrate his ideas about love. However, in My Blueberry Nights , right from the beginning, there’s a discomforting sense of banality blanketing the film: the journey, the pie motif, the faith in "new beginnings”.

In Chungking , a woman breaks in and cleans her crush’s apartment. Fallen Angels has its assassin and the set-up woman in love. And In the Mood for Love has its two cheated-on spouses trying to recreate the way their errant mates went about their affair. However the plot in My Blueberry Nights has nothing of the sort. Because of this, there are several scenes— the most notable being the exchange during which Rachel Weisz’s character opens up to Elizabeth, dragging out each line to an insufferable degree— that make the viewer feel obligated to feel something, but it’s all so… well… boring. A woman’s crying about the death of a loved one is a commonplace.

And lines like "We judge ourselves in the light of others" fail to grasp the profoundness they seek, even when uttered in Ms. Jones’ pleasantly crisp voice, sotto voce. To her credit, her first outing as an actress delivers a very real product. Like the director’s work with Faye Wong, Jones’ performance exudes a natural energy removed from the sometimes contrived energy of more seasoned actors. Jude Law delivers the only other notable performance, infusing a subtly seductive sense of wisdom in Jeremy.

All said, My Blueberry Nights is not a terrible film. It is, after all, Wong Kar Wai, so there are moments the director revisits what made him special, as when, in a scene later on in the film, the former love of Jeremy’s life (played by Chan Marshall a.k.a. Cat Power) strolls onto the screen from the darkness and back out after a brief conversation.

Slant Magazine’s Ed Gonzalez makes a pitch-perfect point in addressing Wong Kar Wai as "My man, Wong Kar Wai." After eight full-length features, a stunning short ("The Hand" in Eros), and one legendary music video, it’s safe to say we and Wong are way past courting each other, past romancing each other… past his having won us over for good. We’re now at the stage—ha, like in love?—where we must deal no longer with horizons but with essence. We could make a case for this film if we really wanted to, because we always privately, and oft-publicly, wish for Wong Kar Wai’s success. But, for the sake of cinephilic duty, we’ll stay silent this time.