Wong Kar-wai's first excursion into Hollywood featured a triumvirate of highly talented women. Two beautiful Jewish actresses and one lovely, talented jazz singer of mixed American and Indian descent, who isn't such a bad actress herself...and Jude Law.In spite of the fact that the critics* almost unanimously deemed this a largely miscarried crossover attempt, and in spite of Jude Law and his wayward Mancunian accent, I couldn't help but enjoy this noir-for-girls tale of misplaced loves and keys, in which the Shanghai-born director lays it on super thick with the foreigner's-eye view of Americana, much as Nabokov did in Lolita. (Which might also be described as sporting a 'conventional' road movie plot in some respects.)
What a thrill to hear Yumeji's Theme again, rearranged this time for a dinner jazz slot.
This is the second movie in a row (after Sherlock Holmes) that Jude Law has somehow failed to completely ruin for me. Yes I was a little bored in places as a series of individuals upchucked their life stories to the itinerant observer Elizabeth, but there's a mood about Wong's movies which is all his own, and I for one don't mind wallowing in it.
Grade: B+
* Phillip French was in a particularly drole mood: "Blueberry pie is a metaphor for what's left when the day is done, but what the film really invites is a raspberry."
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