Blue Jasmine

I love Woody Allen. Always have. Always will. He's a fantastic writer and has been arguably the most esteemed and consistent director of the past couple decades. He's not perfect, he has the occasional theatrical misstep, but in my opinion, Woody Allen movies are like pizza. Even when it's "bad", it's still a Woody Allen movie, and that's good enough for me. The being said, Blue Jasmine is a terrific slice of pizza.

Blue Jasmine tells the tragically hilarious story of a former New York wealthy socialite, named Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) and her slow descent into total and utter madness brought about by the arrest and incarceration of her Bernie Maddof-ish husband, played with usual smarmy-ness and charm by Alec Baldwin. Jasmine, after being found wandering around the streets of New York talking to herself and subsequently committed, decides to travel to San Francisco to live with her adopted and estranged sister, Ginger, and her two kids. From then on out, the story glides on documenting Jasmine's struggles to find a new path for herself in a world devoid of charity dinners and shopping sprees.

The juxtaposition of Jasmine's two worlds is particularly striking and lends itself very well to the overall tone and scope of the film. The movie jumps back and forth periodically between Jasmine's luxurious 5th Avenue existence amidst the hustle and bustle beauty of New York City, and her dreary stint in artsy and eclectic San Francisco. Two cities, two coasts, two completely different worlds. As a Bay Area native, I really appreciated how Woody Allen filmed this beautiful city. Utilizing places hardly seen in other SF-based films, like Ocean Beach, the Outer Sunset, and Soma. This also might be the first film to take place in San Francisco that does not include a single shot of a cable car, which is pretty refreshing. It's a San Francisco that you'd recognize, as opposed to a heavily romanticized and airbrushed one.  The atmosphere is authentic and allows the characters to be as well, which is crucial because....

This, like most Woody Allen fare, is a character driven movie. It's about relationships and internal struggles, and most of that lies in the capable hands of Cate Blanchett who delivers the first unquestionable "Oscar-Worthy" performance, by a man OR woman, that I have seen so far this year. She manages to portray textbook crazy without having to chew on scenery or have some big scream moment. (I'm looking at YOU, Silver Linings Playbook). This resonated with me because, as a person who has struggles with mental issues for a good portion of his life, true madness is internalized. Sure there are obvious crack-ups and breakdowns, but for the most part it's about trying to save face and deal with what's going on in your body and mind and also living out your day as normally as possible. Blanchett nails this down pat. Jasmine is nutty, she's at the end of her rope, but Blanchett gives her madness a subtlety and nuance that is truly fascinating and heartbreaking. The rest of the performances are pretty perfect as well. Sally Hawkins plays Jasmine's sister, Ginger, a woman struggling to raise two kids as well as deal her embittered ex-husband, A shockingly great Andrew Dice Clay, and now has to bear the burden of her previously cold and distant sister. She's got an attractive feistiness to her, and in some moments, even pulls the focus from Blanchett, in a good way.  Everyone, from Bobby Cannavale's Stanley Kowalski-esque Chili, Ginger's on-off again boyfriend, to Peter Saarsgard's tempered and sweet Donald,  Jasmine's potential new beau. I do feel as though I should issue a disclaimer for people heading to this movie to see a Louis C.K/Woody Allen mash up. Louis C.K plays Al, another one of Ginger's romantic partners, and he's great. However, he is only in the movie for a couple of minutes total and essentially does the same shtick he does in Louie, his TV show. He's a welcome addition to the film, but his overall impact is relatively small compared to the rest of the movie. I just don't want anybody to get their hopes up.

This movie definitely packs a wallop, emotionally speaking. The film goes from irreverently hilarious to hopelessly tragic very quickly and can make for a kind of frustrating experience, but in the end it all works out into a pretty cohesive narrative. This is a movie that works really well and is an impressive feat by Woody Allen for making a compelling piece of truly modern drama at this stage in his life. It might not have the timeless and farcical quality of his last great effort, Midnight in Paris but it does offer something at once new for the director as well as being charmingly reminiscent of his earlier works (Annie Hall, Manhattan, etc. etc.) If Blue Jasmine is any indication, this could be the start of Woody Allen's renaissance.

8.5/10