Blue Valentine - Not Up To Us!

 (2010) ★★★☆☆

If you think 'Blue Valentine' is a romantic flick with a little bit of blue, you're wrong, because there's basically nothing but pain. If you think it's going to move you by telling you a sad love story, you're wrong again, because the story itself is not at all sad. It's reality that we're sick of coping with, and yet we have to.

It tells in a documentary-style a story of how romance must eventually give way to reality; how dangerous it is to go promiscuous; how unwise it is to let passions take over. What is marriage for? What is love? Why do we need it? Why do we still want it as it always seems to break our heart in the end?

Love at first sight is the most common way for people to fall in love. Dean (Ryan Gosling) falls head over heels for Cindy (Michelle Williams) at first sight too. It seems romantic. Yet it's, if you analyze it, pretty stupid and risky. Just think about it. Nothing in the world is permanent. When you're driven by your fickle mind to chase impermanent stuff like love, relationships, comfort, beauty, what you like and dislike, etc, you're bound to be miserable.

So should we be happy on Valentine's Day? If you think you should, you're not seeing the truth. If you think you shouldn't, you're not seeing the truth either. The truth is, it's not up to you to be happy or not. We have no control though we think we do. We're only slaves of our emotions and habits. When the karmic wind blows, we get moved helplessly, like Dean and Cindy.