New to DVD: My Blueberry Nights

by Andrew Jupin

Way back in March, our very own Sean Weiner was able to review Wong Kar Wai's first stab at an American feature, My Blueberry Nights, and just like his review's title proclaimed, the film got a little lost in translation. Sean wrote,

"Wong’s Americana holiday emerges a bit touristy. Signature characters of past films turn stereotypical when reborn Yankee. And as subtitles are removed from the WKW experience dialogue falters, posing a debasing question, 'Were the subtitles a fundamental part of the magic?'"

It is true, in fact. There is something to be said about the poetic coma one finds themselves in when diving headfirst into one of Wong's masterful, seductive tales all the while reading subtitle after gentle subtitle. The unfortunate thing here is that his dialogue more or less makes the actors-- who do just about the best they can with the material-- come off as cold and robotic.

The story is fairly simple: Norah Jones plays Elizabeth, a broken-hearted New Yorker who sets off on a road trip to forget her dastardly boyfriend who has dared to share dessert with another woman. Throughout her travels, her mind is fixated on heartthrob restaurant owner, Jeremy, played by Jude Law. She travels from this place to that, searching for herself and trying to forget her past, all while encountering a broken-hearted policeman (David Strathairn), a newly-widowed woman (Rachel Weisz) and a troubled gambler (Natalie Portman).

Does she solve her problems? Does she straighten her life out? Does she wind up back in New York with Jeremy? The truth is, it doesn't matter. As Sean put it,

"Wong’s ninth full-length feature references his previous, particularly this time, 1996’s cult romance Chungking Express. The relinquished keys of broken lovers still wait to be claimed at local eateries. Lovely, lonely damsels once again misshape their doos while snoozing on tabletops. And, perhaps the paramount WKW recurrence, tunes continue to echo through their storyline as time-diluting sets of leitmotifs; this time most notably is Cat Power’s recent title track The Greatest."

The fact of the matter is, it's the same Wong Kar Wai that we all know and love; accept this time, it's in English and the truth is: we don't really want to fully understand what they're saying. We just want them to wander aimlessly, stare at themselves in reflections and speak out loud as if it doesn't matter whether or not anyone is there to listen to them.

The DVD out Tuesday from Genius Products is relatively bare-boned. It comes with a behind-the-scenes featurette, a conversation with Wong himself and the most thrilling of all DVD features: the still gallery and the...wait for it...theatrical trailer! At most this is a rental and even at that, you can find better.

My Blueberry Nights is available on DVD as of July 1st