Love stories are difficult to pull off on the big screen these days. At worst, they're overly sentimental melodramas that don't earn majority of the audience's emotions in a genuine manner (The Notebook); at best, they're not-quite-perfect romances that just barely fail to reach the next stratosphere (The Fault in Our Stars). Blue Jay is an exception to that rule, a movie so understatedly authentic it feels like we're eavesdropping on two people's private conversations between one another. Mark Duplass, that quiet actor from Safety Not Guaranteed - who's also capable of intense displays of emotion - plays a depressed loner who accidentally runs into his old high school girlfriend, portrayed by the charming Sarah Paulson. As they begin to catch up on each other's last two decades over coffee, wine and while listening to old recordings they made together as teenagers, old passions are reawakened, as well as some old wounds that jeopardized their relationship in the first place. Like some of the best classic cinema that features (primarily) two people in its cast (My Dinner with Andre, Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight trilogy), Blue Jay is that rare love story, filmed in a gorgeous Black&White, that will immediately evoke your own memories of "the one who got away" (does anyone out there not have such an ex?). Tears may accompany your experience. You've been warned.
A-
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