My Blueberry Nights (2007)

A young lonely woman takes a soul-searching journey across America to resolve her questions about love while encountering a series of offbeat characters along the way.

Director:

Kar-Wai Wong (as Kar Wai Wong)

Writers:

Kar-Wai Wong (screenplay) (as W.K.W.), Lawrence Block (screenplay)

Stars:

Norah Jones, Jude Law, Natalie Portman

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jude Law	...	Jeremy
Norah Jones	...	Elizabeth
Chad R. Davis	...	Boyfriend (as Chad Davis)
Katya Blumenberg	...	Girlfriend
John Malloy	...	Diner Manager
Demetrius Butler	...	Male Customer
Frankie Faison	...	Travis
David Strathairn	...	Arnie
Adriane Lenox	...	Sandy
Rachel Weisz	...	Sue Lynne
Benjamin Kanes	...	Randy
Cat Power	...	Katya (as Chan Marshall)
Michael Hartnett	...	Sunglasses
Natalie Portman	...	Leslie
Michael May	...	Aloha

Storyline

Elizabeth's heart is broken. For solace, she drops in late at night a few times at Jeremy's diner for blueberry pie a la mode; they talk. Once, he watchers her sleep, her head on the counter. Abruptly, she leaves New York City to get away from her pain. She works a couple of jobs in Memphis. There, a heart-broken cop is drinking himself into oblivion, his ex occasionally showing up where he drinks and Lizzy works. Then, she's in Nevada, working at a casino where she uses her savings (she wants a car) to stake Leslie, a busted gambler, in a high rollers' game. After, Beth drives Leslie to Vegas where Leslie's estranged father lives. Broken relationships. What about Jeremy?

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Plot Keywords:

foodie | americana | female friendship | female bonding | road trip | 

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Taglines:

How do you say goodbye to someone you can't imagine living without?

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material including violence, drinking and smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Spain] Official site [Spain]

Country:

China France Hong Kong USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 November 2007 (France)

Also Known As:

El sabor de la noche

Filming Locations:

Arcade Restaurant - 540 S Main St, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$74,146, 6 April 2008

Gross USA:

$866,778

Company Credits

Production Co:

Block 2 Pictures, Jet Tone Production, Lou Yi Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The name of the Jeremy's café "Klyuch" is actually the Russian word for key. It can be seen on the front door of the café in blue Cyrillic letters.

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Goofs

When Sue Lynne has one final confrontation with Elizabeth at the diner, she pays Arnie's tab and says "don't forget about him" but her lip movements don't match the words she's saying.

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Quotes

Elizabeth: Why do you keep them? You should just throw them out.
Jeremy: No. No, I couldn't do that.
Elizabeth: Why not?
Jeremy: If I threw these keys away then those doors would be closed forever and that shouldn't be up to me to decide, should it?
Elizabeth: I guess I'm just looking for a reason.
Jeremy: From my observations, sometimes it's better off not knowing, and other times there's no reason to be found.
Elizabeth: Everything has a reason.
Jeremy: Hmm. It's like these pies and cakes. At the end of every night, the cheesecake and the apple pie are always ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits play over melting ice cream drizzling over blueberry pie, while the font is blueberry colored.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Street Kings/Chaos Theory/My Blueberry Nights/Smart People/Young @ Heart (2008)

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Soundtracks

The Greatest
Performed by Cat Power
Written by Cat Power (as Chan Marshall)
Courtesy of Matador Records
Published by Multitude Music LLC (BMI)

User Reviews

This film is a perfect movie for Norah Jones

This film is brilliant. So subtle and well crafted is the storytelling. The cast is perfect. If you like Norah Jones and her music you will absolutely love this movie. It is about human emotion, growth, hurt,longing,finding inner peace. Every emotion she brings to her songs Norah Jones and the rest of the cast bring to this movie. Every character represents another "Life Lesson" that Elizabeth (Norah Jones character) needs to meet to bring her to the peace she needs to find. Or, at least, an understanding of who she is that she can be happy with. Which makes the ending such a wonderful beginning.

Jude Law is his usual charming English embracing persona. Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman achieve so much with such small supporting roles. David Strathairn is perfectly cast and is just an incredible actor. The director did an incredible job of pacing the film to let each moment of reflection absorb into the audience. The photography was just as exquisite in its detail and subtle importance of meaning.

Where this film really succeeds is in not falling into the Hollywood pitfalls of so many indie movies where the the film becomes brooding or cynical. Throughout her journey Elizabeth finds herself; her best self. Like her music, you will sometimes feel the melancholia she feels, sometimes feel the hope and desire, the longing for love or the want of confidence in one's self. But after all the reflections, in the end you will be happy with the experience. The only thing missing from this film was a great Van Morrison song like "in the Midnight" or "Someone like you" to add to the atmosphere. I don't think i have seen any of Kar Wai Wong's {the director} films but I look forward to seeing them all now. Start to finish, this movie is brilliant.