Strong visuals give 'Blueberry' its odd flavor

Tag : Strong Glue

One mistake is casting Grammy-winning musician and untested actressNorah Jones as Elizabeth, the central character; just like herbland lite-vocal jazz songwriting, her screen presence blends intothe background, eliciting naught but an indifferent shrug. Jones isthe glue in the narrative, holding together three heavy-handed andsurprisingly amateurish pseudo-literary vignettes.
Elizabeth is heartbroken. With the help of cafe owner Jeremy (JudeLaw), she discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her.
See, Jeremy remembers people not by names but by what they order,and recently, Elizabeth's boyfriend ordered not one, but two porkchop platters. And in a typically clumsy and labored bit ofsymbolism, she hands over her set of apartment keys to pass alongto her ex, and Jeremy puts them in a bowl full of keys, his littlecorner eatery apparently being the repository of (ugh) locked andbroken hearts.
Elizabeth spends many sad, late nights eating Jeremy's unwanted andunsold blueberry pie, before she up and leaves for Memphis, Tenn.In this new setting, she works as a waitress in a diner by day andbartender in a dive by night. She meets Arnie (David Strathairn),an alcoholic policeman who refuses to accept that his marvelouslyattractive wife, Sue Lynne (Rachel Weisz), has left him for anotherman.
Later, Elizabeth ends up slinging cocktails in a low-roller Nevadacasino, where she crosses paths with Leslie (Natalie Portman), acareer poker player. Leslie needs some dough to get back into acard game, and hits up Elizabeth for her hard-earned tips.
"I'm saving that money to buy a car," Elizabeth says, but Leslieagrees to split her winnings with her; if she loses, then Elizabethgets Leslie's Jaguar convertible.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth keeps in touch with Jeremy by sending himpostcards.
Yes, this is an immensely talented cast, albeit one saddled withtrite, insubstantial material. More effort went into styling theshock of hair hanging seductively in Weisz's face than fleshing outher character arc.
Portman faces a similar challenge; she must overcome Leslie'sconsiderable banalities -- she's a brash gambler-floozy falling outof a flimsy dress accessorized with noisy, bangly jewelry -- beforesqueezing a drop of substance from the character.
One may be able to find a theme in "My Blueberry Nights" regardingthe patient-psychiatrist relationship between drinkers/eaters andthose who wait on them. At first, Elizabeth is the servee, and shemust become the server in order to attain any perspective on herown heartbreak. But even this device is a tired truism, and inreality, the most passive relationship we're likely to have is withthe individual selling us booze or pie.
That's why that gorgeous last shot belongs in a different movie.