When Sean Met Jen.

I'm a sucker for indie movies, stories that take the glitz and glam and falsity of over thought big budget films and throw it away for something as simple as raw truth. These are the movies I find the most compelling. These are the films that move me.

I'm also a sucker for Ryan Gosling. Anyone who can make a horrible movie like Murder By Numbers watchable is all good in my books. Plus I spent much of my late adolescence watching Breaker High.

 

Dude's come a long way.

I also admittedly really hated Dawson's Creek, so the fact that Michelle Williams has been working so diligently over the last few years to wipe my memory of Pacey is quite redeemable (and her 5 minute stint in Shutter Island was like, wow).

I love that these two compelling actors shy away from the magazine attention getting whore scape of Hollywood and just do their job (and do it really well by the way). Sure, they do press, but it's always non self involved. Neither of them, to my knowledge, have made a sex tape. But what I love most of about Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams though is that they've found each other as actors, and in that, are beautifully and grossly falling in and out of love in Blue Valentine:

I've been tracking Blue Valentine the past few months on the festival circuit as its battled the dreaded NC-17 rating it was initially bestowed with by the MPAA (something to do with oral outrage). But after some Weinstein weight was thrown around the courts the rating was dropped to a much more awards eligible audience friendly R. Yay for us! And yay for Gosling and Williams, who both just snagged Golden Globe nods for the movie (which is making everyone's top ten list, including mine) and are likely, hopefully, bound for a date with that Oscar dude.

So, uhh.... what's it about?

Yes, the trailer (romantic, touching, smile inducing) doesn't reveal much of the story of Dean and Cindy, a couple who spend a night away from their daughter in an attempt to save their failing marriage. Juxtaposed with memories of their time together, Blue Valentine  is a love story that's already been broken...and a sometimes painful revelation in honesty. There. Now you know.

Depressing? Sure. Maybe.

But I'd rather see something I can feel than something that makes me get up to get more my popcorn. Besides, it's better than having to endure this: