Blue Jasmine- In Blue Jasmine, Cate Blanchett stars as Jasmine, a woman who has moved into a small apartment in San Francisco with her sister, Ginger (Sally Hawkins). As we discover, Jasmine moved in with Ginger after she lost everything when her late husband, Hal (Alec Baldwin) was busted for being a total crook. Determined to get her life back together, Jasmine tries to keep a stiff upper lip, but is constantly haunted by her past, which causes her to black out, drink in excess, and even try to dull her senses with pills. We also see Jasmine’s sister dealing with her smooth talking ex-husband (Andrew Dice Clay), her current boyfriend (Bobby Cannavale), and even a fling with a guy she met at a party (Louis C.K.). Then, when Jasmine meets a very well to do aspiring politician (Peter Sarsgaard), she feels like her entire life is totally set, as long as he doesn’t know the truth about her. Meanwhile, in flashbacks, we see Jasmine’s life on Park Avenue and the series of events that would eventually lead to her husband costing her and everyone around them everything. Now, I know that Woody Allen is sort of an acquired talent that many just don’t get, and his personal life is often the main reason for all the distain, but I have to admit that he sure does create some very interesting movies. And, while I do think that Annie Hall and Midnight in Paris are his absolute best works that I have seen of his, Blue Jasmine is still a very good movie, even though there are a few elements that are not as good as others. First of all, it was very interesting that he gave us a movie that jumps back and forth between Jasmine living it big on Park Avenue and her at her lowest of lows. Of course, the cast in Blue Jasmine is also fantastic with every star giving top notch performances from the supporting cast (most notably from Andrew Dice Clay as Ginger’s ex-husband who lost everything from Jasmine’s crooked husband). However, the true gem of Blue Jasmine is the lead performance of Cate Blanchett. Appearing in almost every scene in the film, Blanchett’s performance as the very complex and troubled Jasmine is nothing short of genius that really shows just how great of an actress she really is. With so much depth and conviction given to her character, Cate Blanchett strongly, and very easily, cements herself as a definite frontrunner for the Oscars. So, in wrapping up, Blue Jasmine isn’t quite as strong as some of his best works, Woody Allen does score another solid turn with Blue Jasmine thanks to its strong cast and, especially, from Cate Blanchett’s sure fire Oscar nominated performance. 4 out of 5.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 19:59:07 +0000
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