My Blueberry Nights Log

Original film poster.
Note the lack of any male presence,
despite Jude Law's big name.

Being looked at in conjunction with Pasolini's 'The Cinema

of Poetry' article, I tackled My Blueberry Nights with a certain pessimistic attitude - a film with a higher ratio of artistic, thought provoking imagery to narrative, plot pushing elements could all too easy drift into the realms of the mildly dull and brain numbing, especially to a viewer raised almost exclusively on Hollywood blockbusters: a mishap since rectified.

However, upon viewing Wong Kar-wai's film, I intently sat upright as I began to realise Pasolini's idea of "im-signs" in full effect. This idea being that when an image is presented on screen for next to no narrative function what so ever, it is seen to be commonly accepted that it has been strategically placed there to provoke a feeling or relay an idea or thought from the film maker to yourself, providing for interesting viewing if used correctly, as I discovered myself at the hand of My Blueberry Nights. A favourite example of mine from the film would be the distinct close up shot of blueberry pie with cream running through it used frequently throughout the film at moments of intimacy between Jude Law's down-but-not-out character Jeremy and Norah Jones' ditsy wanderer, Elizabeth. Setting aside the obvious narrative enhancing qualities the image has (an early bond was formed between the two over an 'unwanted' blueberry pie, despite the fact that there's "nothing wrong with it" a metaphor in itself you could argue), it also provides us with strong connotations of warmth, affection and other such sensual concepts.

The infamous blueberry pie shot,
best seen in motion for the full "M&S Effect".
Note how this led to the image below, with it
even being shown briefly during the actual scene.

It verges on the explicit when the cream appears, bringing with it all of the crude sexual symbolism, and the amount of time the image is shown becomes more and more fleeting as the film progresses perhaps to show the oncoming inevitable release of desires and sexual between the two characters.

In conclusion, I believe Pasolini's "Im-signs" can be used to great effect given that they aren't liberally used to prevent their abuse. 

The film itself definitely gets a thumbs up: strong characters and interesting concepts definitely distract from the somewhat murky narrative.