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This week, the French romance drama Blue Is the Warmest Color opened in two Chicago theaters, Landmark’s Century Centre in Lakeview and the Century 12/CineArts 6 in Evanston. I reviewed the film when it played at CIFF, and I really don’t care for it. Director Abdellatif Kechiche has a weighty, methodical style that frequently undercuts what’s meant to be a passionate love story between two young lesbians. The film, like Kechiche’s previous work, is essentially an exercise of visual uniformity, something I normally enjoy. But over the course of the film’s three-hour run time, the experience gradually grows burdensome and somewhat oppressive. At the risk of sounding redundant, a long film is something I normally enjoy, but Blue Is the Warmest Color feels every microsecond of three hours and eventually buckles under the weight of its own run time. Then, of course, there’s the controversial sex scenes and suspect depiction of a homosexual relationship, a subject broached by people much smarter and more qualified than me, so I’ll let that bit lie while simply saying that the film, as a whole, left me cold.
- Viridiana (dir. Luis Buñuel, 1961) One of Buñuel’s most important films. As he demonstrated throughout his career, he could be a cold and even antagonistic director, never one to shy away from disturbing images and debilitating themes of sorrow and violence, and this parable on religious contradiction is no exception. Indeed, Viridiana isn’t an easy film to watch, but the overall effect is surprisingly spirited thanks to Buñuel’s lively, invigorating filmmaking.
