Blue is the Warmest Color

Movie Information

In Brief: Make no mistake, the four-star rating given to Blue Is the Warmest Color is both guarded and calculated. I can see that this is a film of some merit and that it’s seriously intended. Technically, it is well-made and Léa Seydoux (the girl Owen Wilson ended up with in Midnight in Paris) is very good as the older half of the film’s central lesbian couple. However, the catch is I didn’t like Blue Is the Warmest Color. I found it ludicrously overlong (172 minutes) and slow and tedious, especially the decision to shoot at least 90 percent of the movie in suffocating close-shot. The last movie I saw with this many close-ups was The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), and it was supposed to be suffocating. If you’re not put off by the rating or three hours of subtitled movie, I’d say, see for yourself. This excerpt was taken from a review by Ken Hanke originally published on Nov.12, 2013.
Score:

Genre: Drama
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Starring: Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche, Aurélien Recoing, Catherine Salée
Rated: NC-17

Classic World Cinema by Courtyard Gallery will present Blue is the Warmest Color on Friday, Oct. 26, at the new Flood Gallery location in Black Mountain, 850 Blue Ridge Road, Unit A-13, Black Mountain.

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About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

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