Despite its status as a low-budget, independent feature, "My Blueberry Nights" boasts a roster of A-list players - Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman - that any mainstream filmmaker would consider it a privilege to work with.
In her big screen acting debut, singer Norah Jones plays Elizabeth, a beautiful young woman from New York who, after her boyfriend dumps her, decides to head out across the country to try and forget about her past and make a new life for herself. Working as a waitress in Memphis and the Desert Southwest, Lizzie meets up with a variety of colorful characters, including Strathairn as an alcoholic cop, Weisz as the wife who's been cheating on him, and Portman as a compulsive gambler who lures Lizzie into one of her schemes. In addition, Law plays a café owner back in the city who introduces Lizzie to the delights of blueberry pie and who serves as the letter-writing confidante and emotional focal point the wayward young lady needs while she's off on her travels.
As conceived by director Wong Kar Wai and co-writer Lawrence Block, the vignettes aren't all that terribly interesting, actually, but the artful look and tone give the film a hip, sophisticated flavor. And since Lizzie is pretty much just a passive observer of the dramas that unfold around her, we don't become as emotionally invested in the characters as we might had she been allowed to become a more proactive force in the narrative - though we're willing to concede that this approach might well have been necessitated by Jones' neophyte status as an actor. Her work here isn't bad, by any means, but then she isn't called upon to do much more than react to the people and events around her. As a result, it's still probably way too soon to make any kind of definitive prediction regarding her future as an actress.
Still, the contemplative, lyrical mood of the film and the sometimes astute and touching observations it makes about both the good and bad aspects of relationships turn "My Blueberry Nights" - its episodic nature notwithstanding - into an enjoyable, if minor, triumph for Wai and his gifted cast.
In her big screen acting debut, singer Norah Jones plays Elizabeth, a beautiful young woman from New York who, after her boyfriend dumps her, decides to head out across the country to try and forget about her past and make a new life for herself. Working as a waitress in Memphis and the Desert Southwest, Lizzie meets up with a variety of colorful characters, including Strathairn as an alcoholic cop, Weisz as the wife who's been cheating on him, and Portman as a compulsive gambler who lures Lizzie into one of her schemes. In addition, Law plays a café owner back in the city who introduces Lizzie to the delights of blueberry pie and who serves as the letter-writing confidante and emotional focal point the wayward young lady needs while she's off on her travels.
As conceived by director Wong Kar Wai and co-writer Lawrence Block, the vignettes aren't all that terribly interesting, actually, but the artful look and tone give the film a hip, sophisticated flavor. And since Lizzie is pretty much just a passive observer of the dramas that unfold around her, we don't become as emotionally invested in the characters as we might had she been allowed to become a more proactive force in the narrative - though we're willing to concede that this approach might well have been necessitated by Jones' neophyte status as an actor. Her work here isn't bad, by any means, but then she isn't called upon to do much more than react to the people and events around her. As a result, it's still probably way too soon to make any kind of definitive prediction regarding her future as an actress.
Still, the contemplative, lyrical mood of the film and the sometimes astute and touching observations it makes about both the good and bad aspects of relationships turn "My Blueberry Nights" - its episodic nature notwithstanding - into an enjoyable, if minor, triumph for Wai and his gifted cast.