IF Hong Kong’s Wong Kar-wai – one of the greatest film makers working today – is to learn a lesson from his decision to make an English-language film it would be: Stick with what you know best.
Wong has made some of the most memorable films of the last 20 years, “In the Mood for Love,” “Chungking Express” and “2046” among them.
His new “My Blueberry Nights,” on the other hand, is instantly forgettable.
The biggest problem is Wong’s decision to cast Norah Jones as Elizabeth, a New Yorker who hits the road after a love affair goes bad. Jones, in her first movie, can’t act. (There, I said it!)
She has zero chemistry with her love interest, New York cafe owner Jeremy (Jude Law), who feeds Elizabeth blueberry pie to get her through her rough times.
Jones is no Maggie Cheung, a frequent star in Wong’s films, and Law is no Tony Leung, another of the director’s favorites. (Do me a favor and rent “In the Mood for Love,” in which the two show what screen passion can be.)
A cross-country journey takes Elizabeth to Memphis, where she waitresses and encounters a boozy cop (David Strathairn) and his cheap wife (Rachel Weisz), and to Nevada, where she teams up with a foxy young gambler played by Natalie Portman, who’s the best thing in the movie.
Wong rolls out some of his favorite visual tricks – slo-mo, shots through storefront windows at night, the blur of an elevated train, and a mouthwatering close-up of vanilla ice cream and blueberry pie.
They’re good, but they seem out of place. (It should be noted that the lensing was done by Darius Khondji, not Wong regular Christopher Doyle.)
Moviegoers not familiar with Wong’s work will find “My Blueberry Nights” too arty, while the filmmaker’s legion of obsessive fans (and I’m proud to count myself among them) will lament the fact that the Great Man has reached a low point in his career.
We can only hope that he returns to Hong Kong to make more screen classics.
PS: The press notes are eager to note that “My Blueberry Nights” screened at Cannes 2007. There’s no mention of the fact that the version opening here is not the same one that unreeled on the French Riviera.