Blue

Blue is one of those artsy films that portrays itself as smart and classy by being very slow and low-key. Which can be great, if done properly. But is utterly boring if executed poorly, which is the case for Blue.

The barely-there plot is simple and can easily be summed up in a paragraph. If you read a synopsis, you'll pretty much know what it's all about. But that's OK right? You don't need plot if you've got a solid character study. Well, that's also a problem, as the central romance revolves around two introverted girls with little personality and even less to say. I was completely unable to care about the characters, who barely seem to care about each other. Nobody ever really seems happy in this movie. Emotions are muted and smiles are rare. They never have a convincing reason to love each other, which I suppose is not unrealistic, but it's not interesting. Everything is so internalized that there's nothing to see.

Then there's the cinematography, which should be the saving grace but isn't. Scenes are well-structured and shot, but are constantly of such boring material that it doesn't matter. The editing is fit for a three-toed sloth, with scenes routinely lasting five beats longer than they should or having no reason for existing than to realistically depict the dull monotony of life. Occasionally, there's some great visuals to be had. There's a beautiful twilight shot towards the end of the two girls in front of a vending machine that illuminates one while leaving the other a silhouette. However, such moments are fleeting, and the vast majority of the film is visually bland. Also, there is almost no soundtrack, so it's not even an interesting film sound-wise.

If you're interested in this film, I suggest you read the manga first. It's got better pacing and is only a single volume long. The film adapts the basic story, but also changes quite a bit. The two have their similarities, but feel quite different.

I know there is sure to be a niche audience for this sort of thing, but it's not me, nor will it be the average viewer. It may resonate more if you're gay or can at least identify with the characters. For me though, it was just unforgivably boring. Know what you're getting into and approach with caution.

'Blue' is a beautiful movie, speaking of it's cinematography. The visual aspect is what I enjoyed the most, and despite common opinions that the scenes were too long and the movie could be much shorter I belive it's what makes the movie so unique and compelling.

'Blue' made me feel melancholic and nostalgic. I think it depicts teenage love in a very realistic way, as a slow, sometimes hard to understand or explain emotion, that may be disappointing and unforgiving at times, which is comforting to see on screen and makes up for a great movie.

It's definitely a movie for sad sapphic girls, who experienced unrequited love or for those who wished for a diffrent ending to their love story and I highly recomend it.

When Blue had its too-short art house theatrical run, it was subtitled in English. Naturally I missed it, and recently picked up the DVD having heard raves. The DVD has no subtitles at all, which is somewhat baffling given that the translation work had already been done. Does anyone know of a source for a script, or an otherwise easily translatable source for the dialog? Several small theaters I've attended actually distributed typed scripts in English for films with spotty subtitles. If anyone had the dialog for Blue, I'd sure like to read it.

The movie's deliberate pace, calm tone and long uninterrupted takes (5-10 minutes in some cases) really set it apart from more conventional Japanese (and American) fare. Mikako Ichikawa, who may be known to some from her supporting roles in Cutie Honey and Jam Films 2's "Armchair Theory", is impressive. Her character's restraint and painful shyness comes across almost completely through her eyes. She seems almost impenetrable, yet fragile.

This story would have genuine appeal to the U.S. art cinema crowd. Anyone who enjoyed Ghost World could do a lot worse: Blue captures the outsider feel of Clowes' characters without the forced quirkiness.

To the person with the dvd with no subs!

Subtitles for this movie are available on the net! However, combining with your dvd could be tricky.

Your easiest option would be just to download the film, along with subtitles. Morally, you have purchased the film anyway.

Or you could rip your dvd using a program like handbrake, and then download subtitles and attempt to sync the two.

After thousand of years, love is a deep and hard thing, even loving and staying in peace with your partner it's hard, you still feel some "pain" to think that you're not the right person or something.

This movie is not just about two girls in love and their problems, but love in general, you don't need a full reason to like someone, you just like and that's it, relationships don't have an instruction manual, when you love someone, you gotta do two things: love them and never hurt them, of course, not gonna be perfect, and that's love in his pure form.

I really like this film, not just the story but the cinematography, beautiful as well.