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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"A giant that walks among us.", July 1, 2006
Subtle, nuanced and totally internalized, Ira Sachs' gorgeously evocative Forty Shades of Blue might be a bit too restrained for most audiences. It's a striking and terribly lonely character study of people aching to connect, and a truly delicate story of conflicted and damaged people, all faced with difficult choices.
Rip Torn - who last year probably should have received an Oscar nomination - stars as Alan James, a boozed out, aging Memphis writer/musician and record producer who is having a party in his honor. Alan is a bit of a philanderer and a bit of an egotist. We first meet him just as he is abandoning his gorgeous Russian trophy girlfriend, Laura (Dina Korzun) so he can fool around with another woman in a hotel room.
Laura is well aware of Alan's wayward ways and his penchant for adultery, but as a Russian bride, she's also cognizant of the fact that Alan can give her a life she could only have dreamed of back in Russia. She puts up with his raging, his infidelities, and his temper tantrums because she loves him - she's also full of gratitude - and also because they share a three year old son.
For his part, Alan deeply loves Laura, but his passion is tempered by deep-seated insecurities - he can give her the material, but perhaps not the sexual or spiritual. This is made even more palpable when Alan's handsome English teacher son, Michael (Darren E. Burrows) visits from California.
Michael has problems of his own. Stuck in an unhappy marriage with a newly pregnant wife, he is immediately attracted to Laura; part out of loneliness and probably because he sees in her a similar kind of vulnerability. Michael also freely admits that Alan has been a rotten father, although of late relations have been cordial enough, but it clearly can't have been easy for Michael to have grown up as Alan's son.
As Michael and Laura navigate the treacherous forty shades of blue, both are faced with difficult choices, especially Laura who feels so utterly alone and isolated in her chic life. The performances are astounding - Rip Torn is truly spectacular as the earthy, drunken Alan who lives for the past and yet can't quite quit being self-obsessed and ego-driven.
Director Ira Sachs moves to the rhythms of his native Memphis, teasing poignant significance out of the quiet domesticity of life and really capturing the city's gritty and coarse allure. The movie is full of meaning and muffled yet suggestive moments. You can really feel Laura and Michael being pulled together, they're both well aware of their commitments to their spouses, but just seem to be desperate for each other.
When choices are made and the characters eventually movie on, viewers will be truly left wondering and the impact of the final pivotal scene is absolutely devastating. Laura is so alienated she spends most of her days shopping in upscale malls and boutiques. Self-examination comes hard to her, but when it does the impact is all the more dramatic for it. This movie is absolutely haunting in its spare, stripped-down depiction of lost souls bound together; it is indeed a true masterpiece. Mike Leonard July 06.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
generally interesting drama, January 1, 2007
"Forty Shades of Blue" features Rip Torn as an acerbic, hard-drinking music producer in Memphis who, though greatly beloved by his fans and the people in the industry, is viewed somewhat differently by those who know him best. Despite his advanced age, he has a gorgeous live-in girlfriend, Laura (Dina Korzun), whom he met while on a business trip to Russia and, even though they seem to be reasonably devoted to one another and their relationship, Laura is becoming increasing morose as a result of his constant philandering. When Alan's married son, Michael (Darren E. Burrows) - who has reasons of his own for resenting the man - comes from California for a visit, he and Laura enter into a secret love affair that forces her to finally question her commitment to Alan and to perhaps cut the chords - both obligatory and emotional - that bind her to him.
Although the script does an effective job capturing the tensions simmering just beneath the surface of the story, the plot itself seems too conventional and too underdeveloped to engage the viewer completely. Still the characters are complex enough and the performances sufficiently layered to at least hold our interest throughout. Torn is particularly good at creating a character whose amiability and likeability on the surface mask a callousness and mean-spiritedness below.
This is a subtle, if not exactly gripping, study of the compromises we make - and the choices we come to regret - in our effort to avoid loneliness and to find meaning and happiness in life.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Now THIS is a movie, September 3, 2006
This is the best movie I've seen in a long, long time. Rip Torn is perfect for this role; and the actress playing his wife is as well. If you like character studies, the finest cinematography around, the best script writing, excellent directing and feeling like you are a "fly on the wall" in the finest drama you have ever seen---buy this film. It never lets up, it never overdoes, it just gives you exactly what you need. And all without anyone blowing anyone elses brains out!
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