My Blueberry Nights
Short description
Elizabeth, a young woman recovering from a painful breakup, sets out across the United States in search of a fresh start. To support herself along the way, she takes a series of jobs as a waitress, leaving behind New York and the cafe owner Jeremy, whose quiet kindness had become a comfort to her. As she moves from Memphis toward Las Vegas and beyond, she meets people carrying their own burdens, among them a troubled policeman, the wife who left him, and a gambler down on her luck. Their loneliness and losses gradually change how Elizabeth sees her own situation.
My Blueberry Nights is a drama and romance directed by Wong Kar-wai, the eleventh of the eighteen films he has directed in chronological order, following Eros and preceding To Each His Own Cinema. He wrote the screenplay with Lawrence Block, and produced the film with Stéphane Kooshmanian and Jean-Louis Piel. Singer Norah Jones plays Elizabeth in her first leading screen role, with Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman and Cat Power in the main cast, which numbers thirty-two credited performers.
The film was released in 2007 and runs ninety-five minutes. It was made for about ten million dollars and took roughly twenty-two million worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb it holds 6.6 out of 10 from around fifty-nine thousand votes, while on TMDB it rates 6.4 from a much smaller base of 868. A critics' rating of 5.8 from 130 reviews places it somewhat below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Initially, Wong Kar-wai planned to shoot the film chronologically, but when it turned out that Rachel Weisz was pregnant, he agreed to shoot the scenes in Memphis with her last.
- As post-production of the film was ending, Norah Jones composed a song and sent it to Wong Kar-wai with the words: “I wrote a song, and this is my vision of this story.” And he included it in the film.
- The film opened the 60th Cannes Film Festival in 2007.
- Wong Kar-wai's first English-language film.
- Christopher Doyle, a permanent partner and cinematographer for Wong Kar-wai, worked with M. Night Shyamalan on "Lady in the Water" (2006), so Kar-wai was forced to shoot with Darius Khondji.
- Originally, Wong planned to shoot the film chronologically, but when it turned out that Rachel Weisz, to whom he had offered the role of Sue Lynn, was pregnant, he agreed to shoot the scenes in Memphis with her participation last. To give her time to give birth and recover before filming.
- A specially hired expert, Peter Elson, taught Natalie Portman how to play poker.
- The kissing scene between Low and Jones was shot at different speeds and from different angles over three days. A total of 150 takes were required.
- A sign with the word "KEY" in Russian hangs on the door of Jeremy's cafe. This is the name of the establishment.
- Director Wong Kar-wai is a big fan of Norah Jones, so he only saw her in the main role, despite the singer's lack of acting experience.
- The only problem Wong Kar-wai had with Norah Jones was that she couldn’t work for 10 hours without a break for food.
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