My Blueberry Nights

My rommate and I were searching for something, anything, to watch on TV in this lovely, and boring friday night when we bumped into My Blueberry Nights. We had been through many, MANY awful channels trying to figure what the hell happened to TV channels in Turkey and we had just seen AVP: Alien vs. Predator (well, we like going on with the mainstream sometimes, but I must warn you that this particular movie was not exactly the best choice having just had dinner), and so we decided, why not, it's a Wong Kar Wai film and it's only 20 minutes passed since it started. Turns out, instead of why not, we should have asked, why.

My Blueberry Nights is Wong Kar Wai's 2007 movie, starring Norah Jones (why?), Jude Law (why?), Rachel Weisz (unfortunately, why?), Natalie Portman (no comment, yet) and David Strathairn. Elizabeth (Jones) is a young woman who is trying to cope with the ending of her relationship. One night she goes to a cafe owned by Jeremy (Law) who is an émigré from Manchester (with the terrible fake accent thanks to Law's acting talent), and they start talking to each other about relationships, keys that the customers leave at the cafe and the blueberry pie that noone ever eats except for Jeremy himself and Elizabeth eventually. They spend a few nights together at the cafe; however, uneasy with the thought that she can never let go as long as she is there, Elizabeth decides to leave New York and goes on to a trip, ending, at first, in Memphis. Working in a cafe during the day and in a bar at night, trying to save money to buy a car, she meets interesting characters with whole new problems of their own. She sends Jeremy postcards regularly, without giving the specific details of her address, continuing a kind of communication with him. Meanwhile, Jeremy desperately tries to find her, calling all the cafes and bars in Memphis, asking whether a girl named Elizabeth is working there.

Elizabeth, now calling herself Lizzie, then moves on to Nevada and finds a job as a waitress in a casino. There she meets Leslie, and after a deal with her, the two go on a journey to Las Vegas to see Leslie's father by Leslie's car. When they finally reach there, they find out that Leslie's father is dead. She helps Lizzie buy the car she always wanted, and each go on to her own way. And guess, after all this journey to "find herself and change" and finally having bought the car as she wanted, where Lizzie heads to?


I wonder what Wong Kar Wai was thinking while making this movie, but first of all, while casting the actors. Norah Jones' debut as an actress is one that would not lead to many other acting jobs. She is mostly seen bending her head while listening to other people and observing and that is - ok, almost - all. Jude Law is as usual looking with gentle eyes, and this is the "that is all" for him, not mentioning the accent (for I have already given the hints of this disaster above). Rachel Weisz was the one and only real dissappointment for me though, for I really like her acting in most of her movies, yet she was only the gorgeous sexy woman walking in the Memphis bar while men slobberingly watched her pass by and her crying her heart out scene was unbearable. I could hear the director whispering her, Rachel, be unreal, act exaggerated. As for Natalie Portman, well, I thought for a moment that I had fallen into the hell of Closer when I first saw her name, along with Jude Law.

The only nice and beautiful thing about the movie was the kiss. It was sweet and also passionate, however I am not sure if it was actually good or if it is me, craving for love at the moment, that I can find any love scene sweet and beautiful to long for.


I did watch the missing first 20 minutes right after the movie ended, when it started again on the next channel. It turns out that I might have as well left it unseen. The dialogues at the beginning were so poor that my hopes at the first time around of a powerful emotional bond between Jeremy and Elizabeth which I did not see just vanished into thin air. If you decide to watch this movie, I advice you to prepare for this question you will ask yourself again and again: What the hell happened in the 7 years between Fa Yeung Nin Wa (aka In The Mood For Love) and My Blueberry Nights?

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Just remembered another beautiful thing about the movie; "Try A Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding, which played over and over again during the Memphis scenes, making you wonder if the movie ever has another soundtrack besides this, especially if you have just started watching it from that moment on: