Since his 1989 directorial debut As Tears Go By, Hong Kong-based filmmaker Wong Kar Wai has built an international reputation as an acclaimed director of moody relationship pieces. Modern classics like Happy Together and In the Mood for Love are improvisational landscapes of love lost, unrequited or generally gone bad — films best enjoyed late at night when your heart is breaking.
Wong’s latest, My Blueberry Nights, is no different, except this time the setting is America and the language is English. We are treated to similar themes, the same detail to atmosphere and repetitive use of contemplative pop songs as past works — but something is off.
Songstress Norah Jones makes her screen debut as a New Yorker who’s suffered a painful break-up. After encountering a cafe owner (Jude Law) who offers friendship and blueberry pies, she sets out across the country to escape from her past and finds people with even bigger problems, including a policeman (David Strathairn) trying to win back his estranged wife (Rachel Weisz) and a free-spirited gambler (Natalie Portman) with family issues.
Like all of Wong’s films, this one looks stunning. The dreamy pastels and vivid blue motif, courtesy of veteran cinematographer Darius Khondji (The City of Lost Children) and production designer William Chang Suk Ping, are the visual equivalent of a Miles Davis composition. Although Wong overuses his now-familiar technique of transitioning into slo-mo each time a character is experiencing a deep thought or emotion, this may be the most self-assured looking film since last year’s There Will Be Blood.
The three stories that make up the film are all fine, but the casting of Jones in the lead throws things off-kilter. She’s a charismatic presence, but acting next to veterans like Law and Portman clearly illuminates her inexperience. While the other actors can just pop into their segments, Jones has to be the glue that holds everything together. But at times, she seems lost.
It doesn’t help that Wong and co-writer Lawrence Block have chosen to make her a passive character; for the most part, she’s an observer of others. A character like that requires an actor of vast resources or someone whose mere presence suggests a complicated inner life.
All of these things work to create something that looks and sounds like a Wong Kar Wai film, but without the soul. The artistic confidence with which Wong has attacked most of his previous films is missing. It’s like the immigrant who was a successful professional back in the homeland, but now reduced to working manual labor in the U.S. because of language and cultural barriers.
When My Blueberry Nights premiered at Cannes last year, it received mixed reviews. Since then it’s been completely re-edited. I haven’t seen the previous version, but it’s possible that in trying to make this film more friendly for American audiences, something’s been lost in translation.
My Blueberry Nights opens today in select cities.