Touted as his first English language film, Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai’s (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, HAPPY TOGETHER) MY BLUE BERRY NIGHTS is a pensive moody film that follows Elizabeth’s (Nora Jones) struggle for love as she finally settles down with café owner, Jeremy (Jude Law).  In the process, Wong takes his audience across a rather boring North American cross country ride where she meets another other couple (David Strathairn and Rachel Weisz) and a card player (Natalie Portman).

If these characters are interesting, Wong destroys whatever intrigue he initially creates.  His images (he seems to favour blue in the film as the title implies), varied camera speed and camera tracking (the one through the café window is worthy to note) are undoubtedly arresting, but his lack of control of his characters leave the audience not caring less what happens next.  The best instance is observed in the blurred fight in the café.  One would be thrilled with a bit of action but art and images rule in a Wong Kar Wai film.  Wong indulges in a few cool (or pretentious, depending how one wants to look at them) situations like the incident where both Elizabeth and Jeremy spot bloody noses for no ridiculous reasons. 

Wong has assembled a solid cast (who would not like to work with the well-known auteur?) but most just waste away their time.  Jude Law is good here – though Wong comes with a silly excuse of the reason a Brit is serving in a diner in NYC.

The end result of MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS is a neat looking film clumsily assembled with horrid dialogue.  This one is strictly for Wong Kar Wai fans.