Blue Jasmine

[MacGuffin]

Release date: July 26, 2013

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard, Sally Hawkins

Directed by: Woody Allen

Premise: A wealthy woman, who finds herself broke and in San Francisco, living with her sister and downsizing her life. She eventually meets a man in the Bay Area who could solve her financial problems, but she first needs to discover who she is and, more importantly, accept San Francisco as her home.

[polkablues]

Did Woody Allen's Euro Zone work visa finally expire?

[Pubrick]

^hahaha

it's true, this feels weird. this would feel right at home in one of those straight-to-video trailers that would run before your rental version of Oscar or The Langoliers.. does anyone else remember that feeling? *you're a real 90s kid if..*

but really, that's what it's like.

[jenkins]

seeing this at the academy, which is where it last night premiered in general or premiered for this city, and can you guess who will be there? who did the academy ask to come, can you guess? is it obvious? let andrew dice clay be obvious

[samsong]

this is a great movie.  for all the fanfare--deserved as it is--for cate blanchett's performance, the supporting cast deserves just as much attention, especially sally hawkins.  everyone across the board is fantastic, even especially andrew dice clay.  woody's best since husbands and wives.  it's a weirdly off-kilter mix of tragedy and comedy, the discordance of which becomes one of the film's strongest virtues.   

[Cloudy]

Well said Samsong. This felt great. So melancholy and hilarious. I felt like this was one of Woody's least left brained films, letting the emotions take over the film's drunken, manic rhythms. The acting was amazing. The people in this film were real, full of life. Want to see it again. Loved the ending I think.

You cant help getting optimistic thoughts knowing Woody can keep bringing films like this out of him.

[pete]

jasmine's great character - one I felt like I've met many times, in different incarnations in real life, but have never seen on film.

however, the tone deaf "San Francisco blue collar" characters really took me out of the picture. it wasn't just that West Coast blue collars sound completely different - these characters seem to go out of their way to sport Jersey looks and accents.

[©brad]

jasmine's great character - one I felt like I've met many times, in different incarnations in real life, but have never seen on film.

however, the tone deaf "San Francisco blue collar" characters really took me out of the picture. it wasn't just that West Coast blue collars sound completely different - these characters seem to go out of their way to sport Jersey looks and accents.

Agree on both counts. I've never been to San Francisco but Sally Hawkin's boyfriend and his buddies struck me as out-of-place.

I liked the movie. A fun play on A Streetcar Named Desire. Some parts were so hard to watch because I know a few Jasmine's in my life as well, one very closely, and it's so hard to figure out how to help them.

Woody has this habit lately of writing one-dimensional villains. I'm speaking of Alec Baldwin's character, who reminded me of Rachel McAdams in Midnight in Paris. They're thinly drawn cliches who barely resemble human beings and you have to wonder if this wasn't a Woody Allen movie would these A-list actors even take these roles?

[wilder]

Blu-ray on January 21, 2014

[Alexandro]

the woodman did it again.
everything aligned here for a great movie. blanchett is inspired casting. woody should only give leads to actors that won't settle with less than perfection like her. he has a certain writing style and a certain delivery style that actors use, and here (as sean penn in sweet & lowdown, and penelope and javier bardem in vicky cb) she just makes it come alive to the point where the craft of the dialogue becomes invisible. the rest of the actors did it too. even the two male love interests of jasmine which had the most underwritten roles.

woody's direction and staging was the biggest surprise also. he also has a very distinctive style with that. long master shots that move around for a while, following the actors. and it usually casts attention to itself. but here it feels seamless, and so secure. the tone was also fantastic, that fine line between tragedy and comedy, I don't think he ever walked it with such acrobatic ease. A very pleasant surprise.