Blue Jasmine Review
By David Kempler
Jasmine is the Perfect Fragrance
Woody Allen's career has gone through many ebbs and flows, which is understandable when one considers how prolific a filmmaker he has been. One of the things that makes him special is that his ebbs are still superior to most other's flows. While usually a darling of the critics, his popularity with the general public has been all over the map. Early on, he threw out winners with rapid-fire succession. Then he would fall out of favor for short bouts before returning to very high levels.
Woody's latest and perhaps most appreciated return occurred in 2005 with "
Match Point", a film that propelled him back into the mainstream. Since then he has tossed out a couple of others that have met with growing critical acclaim and more widespread acceptance among the general movie-going public.
Well, the time for us to view him as someone who has merely climbed back into the center stage has passed. With his latest, "Blue Jasmine", he is back at the level where he is at his very best. Yes, the last eight years have produced solid, even exciting work from Mr. Allen, but now he is, in my opinion, back to where he was in 1989, when he released "Crimes and Misdemeanors", possibly my very favorite Woody Allen film, although there are a couple of others that I would have no quarrel with if you wanted to differ. Woody is back and the glow I left the theater with is special once again.
There are many factors that make "Blue Jasmine" absolute required viewing. The writing, directing and acting are all so good that it results in Woody taking us from comedy to drama so effortlessly within a heartbeat of a moment that he achieves the toughest feat of all: utter believability that we are watching something that feels incredibly real. Not since "Crimes and Misdemeanors" has Woody been able to pull this stunt off. It's fair to say that I was enthralled throughout.
Like all good Woody films, the main attraction here is a performance by a talented actress lucky enough to be given gold to work with, and Cate Blanchett takes the gold and spins it into her own magical screen moment that guarantees her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Considering that Woody is the greatest director of women ever, my guess is that Cate will be the prohibitive favorite to win it by the time all of 2013's films have been released. Simply put, Blanchett is magnificent.
Jasmine (Ms. Blanchett) is married to Hal (Alec Baldwin), an uber-successful smooth talking investor that lavishes riches on Jasmine. She lives the life of a woman who flies all over the world, whose house is a peek inside fashion magazines, whose friends attend dinner parties and believe themselves to be special, all while maintaining a self-deception that they are giving back to the "less fortunate". In many ways, Jasmine's and Hal's lives are what we are often told is the fairytale life, but since we all know there is no such thing, the inevitability of a potential unraveling is clear. That it does unravel is not giving anything away because we learn this very early, and the story goes back and forth from the "glory" days to the aftermath.
The rest of the cast more than holds up their end of the bargain, too. Sally Hawkins is Ginger, Jasmine's sister, and I hope that she scores an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, because she is magnificent as the less successful sister. Her performance walks a tightrope of frailty and spunk that reminded me of Rosanna Arquette in "Desperately Seeking Susan".
Then there are the excellent performances of Andrew Dice Clay as Ginger's ex-husband and Louis C.K as another love interest. Dice will probably see more roles tossed his way after this. There are no weak links anywhere to be found in this cast.
It is near the end of July in 2013, and at this point in time, "Blue Jasmine" is head-and-shoulders above every other film I have seen so far this year. It deserves nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and a couple of technical award nominations, as well. Just see it.
