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View Full Version : Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)



eternity
08-05-2013, 06:58 AM
http://i.imgur.com/iwlzpZx.jpg

eternity
08-05-2013, 06:59 AM
Like watching a trainwreck in slow motion. Pretty good. I think the people who are saying that it's one of Woody's best are crazy, but pretty good.

Dukefrukem
08-05-2013, 11:27 AM
Never would I put "like watching a train wreck" and "pretty good" describing the same thing.

eternity
08-06-2013, 01:20 AM
Never would I put "like watching a train wreck" and "pretty good" describing the same thing.

I was having fun, but the movie is most easily described as watching a train wreck. The basic premise (not a spoiler, as it's the trailer, but I'll tag it anyway) is that the title character's entire life begins to spiral out of control and she has no clue how to function. It's kind of fascinating.

Ezee E
08-07-2013, 04:58 AM
This was splendid. Cate Blanchett's Jasmine could very well be one of my favorite characters from Woody Allen. That's not to say this is one of my favorite movies of his, but the character is so fascinating to watch. eternity does say it right in that it's basically watching a trainwreck. Although more like a train wreck that's about to occur.


Is there a reason that Jasmine allows it all to happen, keeping a blind eye to it all? Other then to simply live a life of wealth? I'm not too sure.

There's nothing really thematic about this, except the performances here. And this includes Andrew Dice Clay, who knew?

eternity
08-07-2013, 06:33 AM
This was splendid. Cate Blanchett's Jasmine could very well be one of my favorite characters from Woody Allen. That's not to say this is one of my favorite movies of his, but the character is so fascinating to watch. eternity does say it right in that it's basically watching a trainwreck. Although more like a train wreck that's about to occur.


Is there a reason that Jasmine allows it all to happen, keeping a blind eye to it all? Other then to simply live a life of wealth? I'm not too sure.

There's nothing really thematic about this, except the performances here. And this includes Andrew Dice Clay, who knew?

But how blind was she, really? She knew enough to drunkenly call the FBI. Did she know the full extent of what her husband was doing or just enough to turn him in over what could have been nothing? Was what she led her sister and by extension the audience to believe true? I'm thinking I missed a key moment that answers that question, because it dramatically changes what we know about Jasmine.

Ezee E
08-07-2013, 07:01 AM
But how blind was she, really? She knew enough to drunkenly call the FBI. Did she know the full extent of what her husband was doing or just enough to turn him in over what could have been nothing? Was what she led her sister and by extension the audience to believe true? I'm thinking I missed a key moment that answers that question, because it dramatically changes what we know about Jasmine.


Yeah, I'm trying to decide that too. It may need a rewatch. She seems pretty aware the whole time in San Francisco. Just plays things off until it hits a breaking point. Not sure what that means really. Just real life I suppose.

wigwam
08-11-2013, 06:31 AM
:|

wigwam
08-11-2013, 06:44 AM
re everyone's spoilers:


it seems like there's a progressive chronology in the flashbacks, where she could just as easily have been unaware at first (her sister's investment), getting suspicious in the scene where she asks about the lawyer quitting, and by the end knowing about it completely thus her position to make that call - she's blatantly haughty about her sister's visiting especially how it ties her back to the class she came from so she seems in earnest to want to also better her sister, which is why she asks him if he can do well for them, or what else is she doing with that question to him? feigning ignorance to him too? hmmm... that's one of the most interesting and mysterious aspects that I wanted to know more about even though I felt the film was perfect as it was, leaving so many things to consider, this being one of them...

eternity
08-11-2013, 06:53 AM
It's an odd thing to leave ambiguous, because our understanding of the film's title character is almost entirely dependent on how we contextualize her knowledge of the situation throughout the flashbacks. I...I don't know.

wigwam
08-11-2013, 07:03 AM
I liked how much ambiguity he was keeping in at the end, the sister standing up for herself and her relationship yet also hanging onto resentment over the money, the brother in law admiring the stepson moving on yet still using it to get back at Jasmine, Skaarsgard being upset with the lie when the career threat seemed most damaging to him ultimately (since the whirlwind relationship also seemed aimed at that for him)

There's also the old woman at the beginning who


mentions Jasmine saying something aloud which she thought was to her - was Jasmine talking to herself then too? She seems to have an all-too-familiar "tantrum" with Alec in that last scene - how long has she had a mental condition? Since before their relationship? I wonder how the sisters' adoption and the "good genes" line the mom gave Ginger re Jasmine/Jenette related to this

eternity
08-11-2013, 07:52 AM
Am I wrong in assuming that

Sarsgaard's character was gay and was only interested in marrying Jasmine because she seemed to be the perfect politician's wife? His willingness to get married almost immediately seemed suspect, on top of just being very effeminate.

Ezee E
08-11-2013, 07:57 AM
Am I wrong in assuming that

Sarsgaard's character was gay and was only interested in marrying Jasmine because she seemed to be the perfect politician's wife? His willingness to get married almost immediately seemed suspect, on top of just being very effeminate.

Well, they did have sex.

eternity
08-11-2013, 09:12 PM
Well, they did have sex.

Fair enough. I'll drop it.

Ezee E
08-11-2013, 09:40 PM
Fair enough. I'll drop it.

But, to add to that, it does seem like he was possibly hiding something the entire time that, we, as the audience were not a part of. Perhaps this was the case with Baldwin, and she was just out of touch the entire time, because no one put it in her face.

Pop Trash
08-12-2013, 02:53 AM
Am I wrong in assuming that

Sarsgaard's character was gay and was only interested in marrying Jasmine because she seemed to be the perfect politician's wife? His willingness to get married almost immediately seemed suspect, on top of just being very effeminate.

Yeah I didn't get that at all.

Anyways pretty good movie. Blanchett is awesome in a Joan Crawford-esque role. I don't know if there is a huge amount of takeaway other than it seems to be of a piece with Match Point as another class conscious Woody film.

The only other thing I'll add is that I know from observation that if you are going to crack-up, San Fran is the place to do it, so I found the ending not as depressing as others might. There's a ton of mental health non-profits in SF that will help out Blanchett's character and she'll fit right in on MUNI buses.

Watashi
08-22-2013, 04:31 AM
This was brutal. Probably Woody's most brutal film since Husbands and Wives. This is essentially Woody doing A Streetcar Named Desire.

I loved my Sally Hawkins in this. Not only was she smoking hot, but she gave an incredible performance.

chrisnu
08-22-2013, 06:07 AM
This was brutal. Probably Woody's most brutal film since Husbands and Wives. This is essentially Woody doing A Streetcar Named Desire.
I must see this immediately.

ledfloyd
08-22-2013, 03:11 PM
Finally opening here this weekend. Can't wait.

dreamdead
08-25-2013, 01:21 AM
Performed masterfully by Blanchett and Hawkins. Found the relationship between the sisters to be complex, especially as Jasmine manipulates Ginger into adopting her perspective about the men Ginger dates. Further, the amount of class critique is interesting, as success is only manageable through sycophantic business dealings or through politics. And the lower class, save for Louis CK, appears more honorable, but in no way more desirable.

Yet there's something here which keeps the film from being any more of a success. Thematically it appears a little stunted. I will say that the most fascinating element is the way that flashbacks are placed into the material.

Mal
08-25-2013, 03:57 AM
As someone who wasn't so keen on Midnight in Paris, his best film in quite some time. Maybe 20 years? I loved this film. I loved this cast. Blanchett topped herself here.

ledfloyd
08-26-2013, 10:12 PM
This is really good, but I don't think it's as huge an improvement upon Midnight in Paris and Vicky Cristina Barcelona as some seem to be claiming.

Kiusagi
08-30-2013, 09:14 PM
I'm pretty new to Woody Allen films, and after initially thinking they just weren't for me, I feel like I "get it" more with each film I watch. So yes, I thought this was excellent.

And I'm hoping Louis C.K. gets a bigger role in a future Woody film, possibly the lead. He fits right in.

DavidSeven
09-10-2013, 06:20 PM
Pretty brutal to watch, but worthwhile. I preferred this over a couple other recently praised Allen films, namely Match Point and Midnight in Paris, but it doesn’t quite rise up to the excellence of Vicky Cristina Barcelona. One thing that bothered me about both this and Midnight in Paris is Allen’s use of some really thinly drawn characters to manufacture conflict and drama for the protagonists. Here, it was the son, who seemed like a different character in every scene he was in and whose motivations were murky at best. In Midnight in Paris, Rachel McAdams’ character was the culprit. Luckily, Blanchett and Hawkins carry the day here and offer up performances that give the film the depth and texture that is lacking in some of Allen’s other recent efforts. The pair will be well-deserving of awards consideration at year’s end.

number8
09-17-2013, 01:42 PM
The Tennessee Williams take off and the San Francisco setting kinda made me think of The Room.

Blanche is very strong here. Dunno what else is there to be said.

Grouchy
10-21-2013, 05:54 AM
I echo the general sentiment - this is a huge step up from what Woody has been doing, even Midnight in Paris and Match Point. And yes, it's sort of a version of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Cate Blanchett's performance is mind-numbingly great. In close-ups she reminded me of Gena Rowlands at her best.

Yxklyx
03-21-2014, 01:43 AM
This was great but it was all Cate wasn't it - Woody was sidelined by her actress, for the first time?