Forty Shades of Blue
A Russian woman, living a trophy-wife existence in Memphis with a rock-n-roll legend experiences a personal awakening when her husband's handsome, estranged son comes to visit. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.
Member Reviews
Forty Shades of Blue - Coco
Aside from being an even better film about Memphis than the current title-holder, Mystery Train, Ira Sachs’ newest film is, so far, the key American indie (for adults, as opposed to adolescents, of any age) of the so-far-not-so-good Two-and-Two-Naughts. I will take this over any number of puff pics where so-and-so demonstrates that _____ are people too, or Miss Theron uglies it up with false Mister Ed teeth as though lesbians don’t already get it bad enough(here’s hoping she grows into that sun damage!), or Rachel Weisz saves the world from corporations, smartly dressed in cutoffs, blouse tied-off at the midriff, Raybans perched up at the forehead, glistening in the desert sun. Ira Sachs is a great filmmaker, and to be a great filmmaker the first rule is to not truck in cliché. Sachs hasn’t since his debut, the gay love story The Delta in ’96 (gay love story vs. “gay love story”; no buff bods, show tune recitations, or games of musical futons), and he doesn’t let us down here at all. He shatters expectations. The nature of the material may lead people to expect cold, maudlin relationship material of the kind trafficked in by American workhorses like Sydney Pollock and Robert Benton. My suggestion would be to go in looking for a touching and radically decentered philosophy of relationships to compare to that of Maurice Pialat or John Cassavetes, accompanied by the kinds of shots one would expect Ping Bing Lee to set up for a Wong or a Hou. This is only the SECOND feature that DOP Julian Whatley has shot! Keep an eye on that name! Also one of the performances of the decade from Dina Korzun; this genuinely is my favorite performance by an actress since The Piano Teacher. One caveat: where are the callisthenic-like Rip Torn grizzly-bear sex scenes like in The Man Who Fell to Earth? I’m shocked the financiers didn’t push on that!
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Forty Shades of Blue - Coco
Aside from being an even better film about Memphis than the current title-holder, Mystery Train, Ira Sachs’ newest film is, so far, the key American indie (for adults, as opposed to adolescents, of any age) of the so-far-not-so-good Two-and-Two-Naughts. I ...