{"id":12433,"date":"2014-01-28T22:50:54","date_gmt":"2014-01-28T12:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=12433"},"modified":"2014-12-27T18:45:58","modified_gmt":"2014-12-27T08:45:58","slug":"blue-jasmine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=12433","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jasmine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bluejasmineposter\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Director: \u00a0<\/strong>Woody Allen
\nWriter: \u00a0<\/strong>Woody Allen
\nCast: \u00a0<\/strong>Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, Louis C.K, Sally Hawkins<\/p>\nO<\/span>f all the Academy award nominated films of this season, Blue Jasmine<\/em> is my unexpected favourite so far thanks to a memorable lead performance from Cate Blanchett.<\/p>\n

Blanchett plays Jasmine, a once wealthy Manhattan trophy wife whose life as she knows it collapses in an instant when her wealthy husband Hal (Alec Baldwin) is convicted and jailed for some undisclosed white collar crime.\u00a0 Given that Blue Jasmine<\/em> is up against The Wolf Of Wall Street<\/em> in the Best Picture category, I like to think the films could be companion pieces and that Hal works at Stratton Oakmont with Jordon Belfort<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Blanchett chews the scenery as the ridiculous and disfunctional Jasmine right from the opening minute of the film.\u00a0 We first meet her flying to San Francisco to stay with her estranged sister Ginger.\u00a0 Jasmine is engaged in a one-sided conversation with a poor, unsuspecting elderly woman as she blabs in spectacularly self-absorbed fashion, completely oblivious to the woman’s disinterest.<\/p>\n

We learn everything we need to know about Jasmine in the first ten minutes of the film.\u00a0 Despite being broke and penniless after her husband’s arrest, she flies first class to San Francisco.\u00a0 When asked why by her sister Ginger, she is unable to answer.\u00a0 It is because she knows no other way to live<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Life has been nothing but parties and social functions at the country club for Jasmine since she married Hal during college but her sister Ginger is the total opposite and has lived a tumultous blue collar lifestyle, changing jobs and boyfriends at the drop of a hat.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0Blue Jasmine<\/em> progresses, two stories begin to unfold.<\/p>\n

\"bluejas2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Firstly, we learn more of Jasmine’s past and how her idyllic life was actually a fascade.\u00a0 Hal cheated on her with a string of lovers and worse still, all of Jasmine’s supposed friends knew but were completely indifferent.\u00a0 There is also lingering tension between Jasmine and Ginger after Hal squanders the lottery winnings of Ginger’s then-boyfriend Augie in a dodgy investment scheme.<\/p>\n

In the present day, Jasmine awkwardly adjusts to her new life.\u00a0 She has to start afresh, get a job, find new friends and maybe even a new lover.\u00a0 Much of the humour in Jasmine’s situation is derived from her hopelessly dreamy and unrealistic intentions to quickly recapture her former lifestyle.\u00a0 She entertains the idea of becoming an interior designer but you sense its not because of any genuine desire but because it sounds like a nice vocation for a wealthy and successful woman.<\/p>\n

The best part of the of the present day narrative is the constant power shift between Jasmine and Ginger.\u00a0 When they first meet in the film, Ginger is clearly pleased that Jasmine has been served some humble pie and is now facing a more grounded existence.\u00a0 But Jasmine soon gets into Ginger’s head and has her wondering whether she could do better than her mechanic boyfriend Chilli.\u00a0 As Jasmine and Ginger both find new boyfriends and new prospects, their relationship with one another shift back and forth.\u00a0 Ginger is played by the terrific Sally Hawkins who I became a fan of after her performance in Mike Leigh’s Happy Go Lucky<\/em>.\u00a0 It is a treat to watch her and Cate Blanchett play off one another.<\/p>\n

Blue Jasmine<\/em> is one of the funniest, darkest comedies about how the global financial crisis and the crimes of fraudulent stockbrokers can change people’s lives.\u00a0 Woody Allen has managed to stay in shockingly fine form in his twilight years with Midnight In Paris<\/em>, Vicky, Christina, Barcelona<\/em> and now this.\u00a0 She’s had a lot of amazing roles in her career but this may just about be my favourite Cate Blanchett performance.\u00a0 Jasmine is self-absorbed, neurotic and surprisingly determined when she has to be.\u00a0 This is a fantastic comedy that deserves all the plaudits and awards that come its way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something For Cate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1759,1756,1757,1758],"class_list":["post-12433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-films","tag-alec-baldwin","tag-cate-blanchett","tag-sally-hawkins","tag-woody-allen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12433"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12437,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12433\/revisions\/12437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}