Blue Valentine

Blue Valentine | clip #1 from MovieManiacsDE on YouTube

There is something about Michelle Williams that we find adorable…perhaps it’s her Dawson’s Creek days that we can’t let go or the raw emotion that she throws into each character she portrays. She manages to leave audiences feeling empathic, sensing her character’s vulnerability in each of her roles, and Blue Valentine is no different. The film centres around the demise of a contemporary marriage and follows the couple (played by Williams and Ryan Gosling) from the dawning of their relationship to its fall. It explores the forks that couples face with varying notions of success, those which can ultimately determine an individual’s happiness.

Director Derek Cianfrance had his directorial debut with Brother Tied– which showed at Sundance in 1998- and has spent over a decade working on this follow-up. The picture appeared at Sundance and Cannes, but has kept out of the limelight thus far. Expect to hear more buzz surrounding the film before its release in late December.

The cute clip above is matched with the Penny & The Quarters tune You and Me, a song which has a pretty curious history; a box of demos, rehearsals and a few finished songs were discovered years after the demise of the Harmonic Sounds Record Company. The song featured, ‘You and Me’ is by a group that nobody can remember but a song that has once again found some air. We love this tune.

To top off what is set to be a capturing independent motion picture with arousing performances by Gosling and Williams, Blue Valentine was scored by Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear, fabricating a feast for all of your senses!