Tue Mar 21, 2023 12:19 pm
Thank you for suggesting going into this film unaware of the content. I loved it from the first black & white moment. Beautifully nostalgic and a special take on youth, love, friendship, and of course loss. It was very vulnerable and human. Both actors brought it.
From the onset, we can see there is more to the story than two people with a past connection happening upon each other in a store. There is a lot between them. There is awkwardness. There is an intensity that bears exploring.
The center of the childhood home and bedroom with an unfolding history of a shared youth was done so brilliantly. It was obvious there was a bond honed through those innocent years where life and love is explored. True friends.
We watched and wondered what could have torn them apart - what road took them elsewhere to a seemingly perfect marriage and a current deadend where one is starting over.
There is role play from the past - much laughter with abandonment of adult trappings. The sweetness was palpable as two humans so open and steeped in life.
I loved that for once a man's heart was shown to be broken by the event which was perhaps his only chance at fathering a little one - creating a family. How do we tamp down this reaction as a society? Why do we not acknowledge the heartache a man feels in this situation, particularly with his lack of ability to change an outcome? We speak of inequality, but we got them there don't we? And, of course - her young prospective and the heavy weight of responsibility and aloneness in an extremely difficult situation. The lifelong burden this decision carried. It was necessary for both of them to purge some to each other. Then, the letter which could have altered everything. The immaturity that led to their separate lives, good or bad. We cannot prove a negative and perhaps this was the best outcome for them. We will never know.
Overall, this was a lovely movie that had the feel of a stage play. The cinematography was fresh and interesting. I did feel that at times it was over-written and a bit self-indulgent in the length of some of the role play and dialogue. (My husband fell asleep 3/4 of the way through, having loved it prior!) Yet, I loved the crafting and turned myself over to it. Blue Jay was a delightful slice in time where we had a bird's eye view into two lives reflecting so much I think that happens in most lives, weighing the unrequited with reality. I remember some of those days...
Thanks so much for turning us on to this sweet piece!
