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Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling play an unhappily married couple attempting to reignite the flame in Derek Cianfrance’s bombshell feature. Notwithstanding the scattered flashbacks to happier days, the movie’s approach is uniformly glum, but the actors’ bloodied performances find tragedy in the mundane process of falling out of love. The performances are literally lived-in — Williams and Gosling spent a month in their characters’ house charting their relationship’s dissolution — although Gosling, as he invariably does in blue-collar roles, seems like he’s too hard. Cianfrance prizes verisimilitude over insight, which means the movie gives you a lot to feel but not much to think about, but it’s still quietly devastating. See it with someone you love, but only if you’re prepared for an uncomfortable discussion afterward. —Sam Adams

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Official Site: bluevalentinemovie.com

Rating:	R
Director:	Derek Cianfrance
Cast:	Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Mike Vogel, Reila Aphrodite, John Doman, Ben Shenkman, Samii Ryan, Faith Wladyka, Michelle Nagy, Robert Eckard
Release Date:	December 29, 2010 (NY/LA), January 7, 2011 (Limited), January 14, 2011 (Limited)
Running Time:	114
Distributor:	Weinstein Company
Genre:	Drama
Advisory:	On Appeal: for strong graphic sexual content, language, and a beating