Monday, June 9, 2008

Dark Blue

Author(s): Evan
Location: NY


"Dark Blue"

Written By: Michel Gondry
Directed By: Michel Gondry

Main Cast

Cody – Kelly MacDonald
Ryan – Robert Downey Jr.
Detective Wilson – Colin Firth
Alice – Angela Bassett
Narrator: Julie Christie

Tagline: "you can make a billion dollars, but you might lose yourself"

Synopsis: On the outskirts of Seattle, in a small white house with a red Spanish shingled roof, Cody Corning (MacDonald) and Ryan Larson (Downey Jr.) meet as they both reach the latrine at the same time. Neither of them has ever seen the other, but she offers for him to go first and he does, slamming the old oak door in her face. That night they eat their dinner together and never once talk. The next morning, when Seattle police agency secretary Alice (Bassett) receives a call from the asylum saying that Cody is gone, and that there are no traces of where she went, she quickly informs her boss.

Ryan and Cody, though, are already in a small paddleboat, starting off across the channel between Vancouver and Victoria. They reach a small island and get off, pulling their dingy into the bushes. The two venture inland through the thick, lush, temperate forest and find a small shack. They go inside and find a small round room with a thin window going around the entire shack, so that you can see outside of every angle. The two slept, curled up on the floor, and were happy. Detective Wilson (Firth) was very cross. He had been trying to find these two whackos for two days and it seemed as if they had disappeared. They were both distinctive and yet nobody had seen them. Alice, his secretary was scared because her boss seemed to be taking this case very personally indeed, and with a lot more fervor than his previous few cases. Soon, Wilson got the lead he needed, a letter apparently, and, with Alice, he set off to Vancouver.

Cody was very sad because she misses her songbirds and begins to cry on a large log on the beach. Ryan tried to comfort her in the misty air but it doesn’t seem to do much good. He just walks away after a few minutes. There is nothing he can do. When he comes back an hour or so later she, and their dingy are gone. He runs down the beach as a speedboat is speeding along the shore, riding the backs of the crisp blue waves. In that boat are Detective Wilson and Alice. They knew but he didn’t know them. As he ran he began to realize that he may not actually love Cody.

He slows down and turns and walks into the forest, disappearing behind the foliage. The two police officers soon come across a small dingy. Inside it, Cody is lying down and smiling. She sits up and looks into Wilson’s eyes. “My wife…” he says, with a tear in his eye. She smiles at him and begins to row her boat back towards the island. She lands and pulls the dingy out of sight. She sets off into the woods to find the shack.

After looking for hours and hours, around the entire island, she gives up. It isn’t there. She goes back to the beach to find the boat, but it’s gone. She is scared and curls up in the cool soft sand. When she feels someone shaking her, she opens her eyes. She is lying on the beach and Detective Wilson is stroking her hair. She is happy as the aurora borealis lights up the night sky around them… a dark blue.

What the Press would say:

Director Michel Gondry is well known for the quirky, almost childish aspects to his films. There is no lack of these in his new film “Dark Blue.” “Dark Blue” is the story of two people who are in a mental asylum. They fall in love and escape, running away together to a shack on a small island in the Pacific Northwest.

Based loosely of off the song by Jacks Mannequin, “Dark Blue” explores the way the two see each other, the world, and people in general. Kelly Macdonald gives an emotional powerhouse performance as Cody, a women suffering from severe bi-polar disorder. Her screen presence dazzles the audience with an authenticity that hasn’t been seen in recent years. Robert Downey Jr. also gives a clever performance as an insane man who sees things that aren’t there at all . . . and who may not be there himself. Over the course of this modern character study we really come to understand the reasoning behind their love, and how real it seems.

The film covers a lot of ground in it’s brisk 95 minute running time, and leaves the audience feeling blown away by how murky everything remains, despite the clarity that seems to present itself in the basic plot. “Dark Blue” is an amazing film, about finding love, and tranquility inside ones self.

FYC

Best Picture
Best Director – Michel Gondry
Best Actress – Kelly MacDonald
Best Actor – Robert Downey Jr.
Best Supporting Actor – Collin Firth
Best Supporting Actress – Angela Bassett
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Cult Bait
Best Tagline
Best Online Awards Campaign

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