Monthly Archives: October 2013

Star Rating: 4.5/5

Director:

• Woody Allen – Annie Hall, Match Point, Midnight In Paris

Cast:

• Cate Blanchett – The Lord of the Rings I-III, The Aviator, Notes On A Scandal, The Hobbit I, II & III
• Alec Baldwin – Pearl Harbour, The Aviator, The Departed, Still Alice
• Sally Hawkins – Layer Cake, An Education, Great Expectations, Godzilla
• Andrew Dice Clay – Whatever It Takes, Foolish, Point Doom, Entourage
• Bobby Carnavale – The Bone Collector, Snakes On A Plane, Parker, Imagine
• Peter Saarsgard – Rendition, An Education, Orphan, Pawn Sacrifice
• Daniel Jenks
• Max Rutherford

Midnight In Paris was a renaissance for Woody Allen. After half a decade without making a decent film, Midnight In Paris won him another Oscar for Best Writing. More importantly, the film reminded us of his talents. Blue Jasmine continues Allen’s re-emergence as a brilliant film director and script writer.

Blue Jasmine centres round the fine-looking Jasmine (Cate Blanchett), who is struggling to come to terms with how her life has turned upside down. From living the glamorous life with her former husband, Hal (Alec Baldwin), in New York, Jasmine takes a few steps down in the world and moves in with her adopted sister, Ginger (Sally Hawkins). Ginger lives in a small, cluttered apartment in San Francisco with her two sons from her previous marriage to Augie (Andrew Dice Clay), whilst doing a menial day-job and having a relationship with the loutish Chili (Bobby Carnavale).

With Jasmine’s situation hardly to her liking, she finds it difficult to sort herself out. In fact, after so many years of living the high life without doing or needing to do a day’s work, Jasmine is in the midst of a nervous breakdown that worsens with every passing day.

Blue Jasmine’s storyline is simple and well thought through. In a typical Allen way, like Midnight In Paris, Blue Jasmine skips back and forth between the (dour) present and the (glitzy) not-too-distant past, dishing us out with the necessary revelations at the opportune moments about why Jasmine left New York and Hal. This style may seem confusing at first. But one adapts to it quite quickly, and soon enough the movie’s approach becomes formulaic and predictable; not that these take anything away from the film.

Blue Jasmine is intelligent, well-written and surprisingly amusing. Despite taking a detailed and dispiriting view on serious matters like cheating, fraud and (to an under-employed extent) people trying to make ends meet, the movie is littered with wry and cutting humour that many people, rich or poor, can empathise with and find funny. That Blue Jasmine is only 98 minutes long works in the film’s favour too. It answers all of its own questions efficiently and does not drag (unlike blockbuster bore-fests, such as Transformers III, Prometheus and Man of Steel).

Unquestionably, Blue Jasmine‘s script is superb and delivered with panache by the cast. Cate Blanchett’s performance is the most magnetic of them all. Blanchett encapsulates Jasmine’s ability to look wonderful, yet never be far from looking like a nervous wreck; to enjoy her lifestyle, yet turn a blind eye to the things she doesn’t want to see; and to be a melodramatic alcoholic about her existence, yet lie pathologically when she sniffs a chance to escape it. That Blanchett pulls this off so as to make Jasmine’s character (and breakdown) seem realistic, much like Joaquin Phoenix did in The Master, is noteworthy. One only has to look at how Natalie Portman’s (Oscar winning) breakdown in Black Swan became farcical by the end to realise the remarkableness of Blanchett’s skills, and that is without needing to compare it to Robert Downey Jr.’s feigned attempt at a nervous breakdown in Iron Man III.

While Blanchett is likely to take most of the plaudits for Blue Jasmine, the supporting cast play their parts to make the film noteworthy too. Sally Hawkins exemplifies an (immature) younger sibling, filled with inferiority-complexes, believing that none of her mother’s good genes were passed on to her. Alec Baldwin typifies a smooth-talking (slimy) businessman that has echoes of Bernie Madoff. Bobby Carnavale portrays a coarse, blue-collar working, beer-drinking, lad’s man in a down to earth manner. And Andrew Dice Clay plays the embittered (and somewhat broken), former husband well enough, although, he’s hardly in the movie; and when he does appear, he always has something significant to add to the plot that has a semi-contrived feel.

The only characters who are not detailed are Ginger’s two children, Matthew (Daniel Jenks) and Johnny (Max Rutherford). These two add little to the story, which begs the question of why they are in the film. A similar argument could be made toward the music that Allen adopts. The movie is set within the last decade, but the music sounds like it is from between the 1930s-50s, which is an odd choice as it appears out of place. But none of these issues should detract from what is otherwise a great film.

All-in-all, Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine is a smart, satisfying and entertaining movie about sombre issues. With a magnificent and engaging central character, and a convincing supporting cast, Allen’s excellent script is delivered with great sincerity and sardonic humour. Above-all, Blue Jasmine confirms Allen’s renaissance and cements his position as one of the best film directors and script writers that Hollywood has at its disposal. Long may the rebirth continue!

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