Movie Review: Blue Jasmine [2013]

When I am asked who is my favorite director, Woody Allen's name never comes up in the first place. But I have to admit that I've loved almost every his movie, including To Rome With Love, that shall not be compared to any other Allen's previous or current works. Blue Jasmine can be he one of the best works, at least what I have seen.

Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) is a former millionaire, living in New York City, with handsome and rich husband, attending all glamorous parties in the city and hosting a number of them; a friend to many important people. But one day all these ended, because her husband Hal (Alec Baldwin) was arrested for fraud and it took Jasmine's whole wealth. Having lost everything, the only place to go is her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins), living her messy life in San Francisco.

The movie is a terrific look at a person who fell down from a very top of the world, a person who had a fancy apartment on Manhattan and now begging for a shelter. It's a spectacular lesson of failure and diligent attempts to rise again.

Woody, as usually, manages to bring interesting characters on the screen and make them evolve right in front of our eyes. Ultimately, Jasmine is the best of them. Despite all downs in her life, she's still stuck in the past position as if she still lives in the same society. This cause troubles, as Jasmine is trying to restart her life, change something to the better, re-educate herself and people she is daily involved with do not match "high-society" standards. Confusion always brings her back to best friend - alcohol.

Cate delivers absolutely perfect performance, capturing all emotions, raves and confusion of character. Jasmine sometime becomes so real that you are actually scared of her, because she's mad and easily loses control and you never lose this feeling of reality in Blanchett's performance. Doing the things Cate managed to do is as insane as the character herself, because portraying someone so exhaustively is not what we always see.

Sally Hawkins is a great supporting actress. She actually steals every scene Jasmine is not in. Ginger is funny, light-minded, a very easily persuadable person, but truly kind and nice to everybody, especially her sister. On the contrary to main character, she did not seem very diverse and hard one to play, but still Sally manages to sell the sister relationship quite successfully. Did she deserve Oscar nomination?! Well, arguably, no.

The rest of cast is just Ok. Alec Baldwin, who appears  in flashback episodes of Jasmine's life, is quite funny and solid. So is Bobby Cannavale who plays Ginger's boyfriend Chili.

I also found Blue Jasmine to be very beautifully shot film compared to other modern time movies. The camera arrangements, colors and costumes are quite impressive. In every aspect, it is one of the most highly recommended movies to watch this year, especially for the most important reason - the Cate Blanchett's performance.