My Response to Tom Myer's Question about the movie, Blue Valentine

I am taking a class with the UCLA extension program; one of our first question talks about the beginning, middle, and ending of a movie. Tom wanted to know if we thought the movie, Blue Valentine, written and directed by Derek Cianfrance, produced by Jack Lechner, Jon Kamen, and Scott Osman, had a beginning, a middle, and an end. I actually haven't seen the whole movie, but by watching all the YouTube videos and listening to the different interviews, I think I am able to answer Tom's question.

I figured I would post my answer here since I haven't written anything lately (other than my stories, my scripts, my class with UCLA, and the all the posts I have to write for my UMUC classes!).

I am not sure why everyone was so harsh on Dereck's movie. Granted, I haven't seen it, but the previews make me think it deserves more than a B+. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams starred in the movie. I read some reviews for Yahoo! movies and it was harsh what they had to say. Granted, there were only 8 or 10 reviews, but I couldn't imagine the movie being as bad as they said (maybe they had auditioned to be in "Blue Valentine" and were the rejects who wanted revenge!)

My response:
I think that Blue Valentine has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It doesn't matter where we think we are starting with the story, it is still the beginning of the story, even if it is the end of the character's story. To us, the listener, the observer, it is still the beginning of the story for us. If we were to watch a movie where the very first scene was a coffin lid being closed on the main character (and we are in the coffin as well), and this was the end of the story for the main character, it is still the beginning for us, our beginning of understanding. The middle of the story is still the middle even if it goes back and forth in time and there will be an end, even if it were the very beginning of the character's life. I think that we best see this in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". We start out with Benjamin Button born as an old man, but grows to be a baby. Although the writers keep a strict sequence where Benjamin grows younger as the story progresses, I still think it demonstrates that a story can go anywhere but still have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Sometimes the "flashbacks" or the "fast forward" with no sense of sequence can be a little confusing, but I feel that if a director and a writer works together, then it can actually be more entertaining than the usual humdrum of the traditional beginning, middle, and end!