Starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams the film portrays a couple at the end of their marriage.
The film opens to a little girl calling desperately for her missing dog. Sadly the tone of the film doesn't get much happier than this yet somehow it manages to engage all the way through and provides a thought provoking and telling lesson of how true love can seemingly crumble away if you don't look after it.
Gosling and Ryan are on top of their game as the film intertwines the beginning of their relationship with the end of it. They move effortlessly between falling for each other to not being able to be around each other. Gosling especially provides his character with the ability to be likeable at the outset of their romance and, not without your sympathy, to a disdainful person who likes a drink or two with breakfast.
The pacing is perfect for the subject matter and although a very downbeat film, this was showcasing what low budget films and filmmakers are capable of. Sadly more and more films like this don't get made due to the lack of investment in edgier material that, with the advent of internet piracy, the studios are less willing to gamble on.
I would recommend this to anyone that wants to see a beautifully played out romance (the tap dance in the shop entrance way by Williams while Gosling semi serenades her is particularly heartwarming) but can handle the inevitability of this love crashing down around the couple you root for. Definitely not a date movie but absolutely one for films fans.
4 out of 5
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