- Jackie Donohoe
Directed by: Derek CianfranceWith: Gosling, Williams112 min.Rated R
"Blue Valentine" depicts a rocky marriage in a passionate and realistic way, and takes an even closer look at the spontaneity that marrige often entails. Gosling truly makes a comeback to the screen, representing the physical labor workforce of America, while Williams is the "tap-dancing" college student-turned-nurse, who brings forth her own strength as a woman who can support herself. As much as they struggle and try to stay together for their daughter, the ending relates to the countless break-ups and separations in this world.
Dana Venerable
In its attempts to show candid moments of married life, the film lost any semblance of fluidity. Because it only shows snapshots of the beginning and end of Dean and Cindy's relationship, the audience misses the crucial middle period: the transition from love to indifference at the core of the film's tragedy.
- Alison Leung
"Blue Valentine's" effectiveness comes from the way it alternates between the most lovingly tender moments of a relationship's beginning and the most heartbreakingly brutal moments of its end. The film creates an honest and fearless portrait of a love lost.
- Matt Garczynski
