my blueberry nights. movie with good intentions and some very sweet moments. love to hate natalie portman but i give her the utmost respect for her acting. it made me a little irritated in a sisterly way why the chinese (not named ang lee) have such an awkwardness when it comes to the subject of sex. i feel like jude law was a little leering and they could have done with a sweet, mysterious unknown in this role. when i sit and imagine what it would be like to be in an empty room with jude law, i'm convinced that if he's set you in his sights, the seduction would be quite predatorial. it makes me wonder...if in another world, wong kar wai (who claims he doesn't go by a script) had said to jude, hey jude...let's improvise on this one. let's try it where you think about how you, jude law, would carry out the unfolding of a seduction of this heartbroken girl, in this empty dinner in the middle of the night...

i just feel that if wong kar wai had let him do that, we would have gotten a much more interesting film, but one where we're not sure how comfortable we feel about the things we saw jude law do to a sleeping norah jones.

i really liked the character, but i'm just really not into jude law.

it was a sweet movie. because blueberries are sweet, so we knew from the title that the director wanted everyone to know that everything would always be okay. hey, natalie portman's dad died and she's not even crying, so everything is hella okay. and it's nice that everywhere that norah jones went by bus, she always found idyllic pitstops without meeting any super crazy muthafuckers. just maybe a handful of people who are higher on the passion spectrum. great stories and characters. but in the end, just like we knew she would, when she's a different person and ready, she comes back to the guy who fell in love with her the moment he saw her.

[sidebar: dude. menfolk. it's obviously the subject of the week. even the girls are discussing it. in fact, i even had a dream last night where i went to this monastary that was like an all girls school meets day spa, and us women spent all day in the courtyard wearing robes, drinking cucumber ice tea and talking about it. so you guys better start having the courage to look in a mirror and get real with what you see, because those of you keeping up the bullshit, you're going to be hearing the truth from one of us.]

back to.

my movie thoughts. i'm really glad the director chose to paint a masterpiece about soul reunification, but i wish he took bigger risks with his main characters. they have to fully separate in order to be brought back together on a higher level. they have to have dropped those keys into an ocean, and then somehow, out of sheer will and miracle, find them again. trust me. i've been dropping keys in the ocean for years. but that's when the miracle really happens. when you're walking along a beach in the most random place, and you find that set of keys that you'd forgotten all about. i think maybe wong kar wai didn't have the guts, but you have to admire how loving and protective he was to the characters he identified with.

i'm really glad i watched this movie tonight. it was the exact right time. i really love and appreciate my group.