Forty Shades of Blue (2005)

Fresh and Exciting

Excellent but underrated film

Admirable film.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

interested to see the comments about boredom and apathy. for me, that's what makes it painful, on a certain scale worth exploring. those "hints" only of pathos, the withholding of basic human emotion, the absence of basic communication and some basic caretaking instincts (with the exception of somewhat successful attempts at sporadic parenting). i know from personal experience that a certain superficial world (alongside many gorgeous, fulfilling worlds) -- existing as it does around the very art that expresses the great suffering and joy of our culture (i.e., blues and other idioms) -- causes visceral pain if one tries to jump in, unaware and unprotected. viewers may feel that vulnerability and become quite disturbed. such a creative-world of superficiality, it seems, usually results from cumulative effect of chemicals (drugs, booze), money (denied... or accepted without feeling worthy or knowing what to do with it), or promises unfulfilled for artists and others around them who don't make it quite the way they planned. complicate that with a very distinct set of circumstances that worldly Russian female émigrés understand all too well, and there is no choice but to tell an insecure story in a wavy, unresolved way. i live in hope. always hope. but i thought the film was brilliant. its examples of every single nerve crying out for attention were succinct. i did not think the characters were unworthy of redemption, though i "liked" some more than others. redemption doesn't have to come in the movie. and god knows for some it never comes. i'm crazy about the terrific music. suffice it to say memphis blues + rip torn + an intelligent plot of unrelenting human drama equal a no brainer for me.

"Forty Shades of Blue" features Rip Torn as an acerbic, hard-drinking music producer in Memphis who, though greatly beloved by his fans and the people in the industry, is viewed somewhat differently by those who know him best. Despite his advanced age, he has a gorgeous live-in girlfriend, Laura (Dina Korzun), whom he met while on a business trip to Russia and, even though they seem to be reasonably devoted to one another and their relationship, Laura is becoming increasing morose as a result of his constant philandering. When Alan's married son, Michael (Darren E. Burrows) - who has reasons of his own for resenting the man - comes from California for a visit, he and Laura enter into a secret love affair that forces her to finally question her commitment to Alan and to perhaps cut the chords - both obligatory and emotional - that bind her to him.Although the script does an effective job capturing the tensions simmering just beneath the surface of the story, the plot itself seems too conventional and too underdeveloped to engage the viewer completely. Still the characters are complex enough and the performances sufficiently layered to at least hold our interest throughout. Torn is particularly good at creating a character whose amiability and likability on the surface mask a callousness and mean-spiritedness below.This is a subtle, if not exactly gripping, study of the compromises we make - and the choices we come to regret - in our effort to avoid loneliness and to find meaning and happiness in life.

Will see Ira Sachs's movie soon. His title "Forty Shades of Blue" may be proverbial, or it may be a line quoted from my Charlie Parker verse biography Blues for Bird, Santa Monica Press, 2001 (Book I xxxviii 3). Whether it is or not, I'm intrigued by many of the comments on the DVD. It seems Sachs is pioneering in terms of angle of vision, interpretation etc. Hollywood movies (except the very best ones) are so blatantly obvious, hackneyed etc. We always need new vision to keep our seeing alert and intact. Obviously Sachs has got it, par excellence. Martin Gray (Your machine tells me I have not written enough about the subject to warrant it being passed on, eventually to Ira Sachs I hope). All I want to know is what source Ira Sachs had for his title "Forty Shades of Blue." I've told you that I'm going to view the movie soon, but I'd like a simple answer to my question. A man who was born in Memphis can surely answer that. Best wishes, Martin Gray.

Ira Sachs, the first time director who made this film, deserves some kind of an award.He's managed to bring together a very diverse story and cast, and have it be about something, AND get it released into American theaters. Give this man another movie, quick~! Rip Torn is amazing. And the Russian woman is stunning too. Their relationship is complicated and believable and awful, but not nearly as bad as Rip Torns relationship with his son, played wonderfully by the man who was once in that TV show with Rob Morrow and some Elk.The music is beautiful, the camera-work divine, the pace gets slow at times but I stayed with it because I just loved seeing good actors get a chance to tear it up with a good script.Looking forward to this directors next film!