Director: Derek Cianfrance
Year Released: 2010
Rating: 2.0
A relationship between all-too understanding but uneducated Ryan Gosling and ice queen Michelle Williams falls apart in this sadcore 'love' story ... and believe me, when this union dies, it rots (apologies to Mr. Sufjan Stevens). Maybe it's just me, but it seems like the deck is stacked against the Williams character: she's a mess, she's promiscuous, she's not a good mother, she has trouble articulating her feelings, while the Gosling character is basically buffoonish but caring, and even goes so far as to take care (and love) another man's child (not to mention get beaten up for her). The underdeveloped script is masked by the fragmented structure and salvaged, to a degree, by two astounding lead performances: Williams does her best to humanize a shrill character and Gosling, one of the very best actors of his generation, does a magnificent job of showing the frustration of loving someone who doesn't love you back. That it ends in literal and metaphorical fireworks is all too fitting.
