My Blueberry Nights

Released: 2007
Drama
Starring: Jude Law, Norah Jones, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz
Director: Kar Wai Wong
Running Time: 95 minutes
Rated: PG-13

The breakdown: A young woman in New York is dumped and heart broken and makes a quick friendship with an owner of a small cafe. 

So I kept seeing pieces of this movie, but never all of it so I sat down and watched it last night.  I'd have to say Norah Jones makes a better actress then singer (I can't stand her singing career).  Anyway, she gets cheated on by this guy she's been dating and she wants to hang out close to his apartment.  She eyes this little cafe and goes in, starts talking to the owner (Jude Law) and makes a good impression on him.  He's very smitten with her, but she's too heartbroken to notice.  She leaves her ex-boyfriends keys with Law coming back every night hoping (for some reason) that the guy's come looking for her or his keys at the cafe.  Night after night they remain in a jar that he keeps filled with other people's keys including some of Law's own.  She suddenly stops coming to the cafe and Law gets some post cards from her saying she's moving about the country, trying to keep her mind off her ex.  She goes from waitressing in Tennessee where she finds a broken relationship to watch end, then to waitressing in Nevada to meet a gambling woman who needs some help to get back into a poker game.  The young woman eventually comes back to New York and Jude Law's cafe where they begin a relationship by the time the movie ends.

Now that I've seen the whole movie I feel a bit more satisfied.  I think the characters were interesting, but I don't like the way the movie is shot.  Lots of pauses with slow motion shots of things like street lights, El trains, traffic, etc.  I think aiming for hypnotic, but ends up feeling like boring filler.  It just wastes time and makes it obvious that the director doesn't have enough script to fill the movie with.  The acting was good, I think I would've liked to have seen more story (instead of pauses filled with Norah Jones music) though what was there was promising.

Overall, I'd give it a 3 1/2 out of 5 for at least getting my attention and interesting characters that I followed all the way through.
Sadly in a side note it's estimated the movie cost 10 million dollars (I'm thinking to pay the actors that were in it) and it only grossed $867,000.00.  Of course, it was only released on 6 screens.