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Forty Shades of Blue
First Look Pictures

Forty Shades of Blue reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 74 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.0 out of 10
based on 16 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 5 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Rip Torn, Dina Korzun, Darren E. Burrows, Paprika Steen, and Red West

Forty Shades of Blue tells the story of Laura, a young Russian woman living in Memphis with a much older rock n' roll legend, and the personal awakening she experiences in the wake of her unfortunate affair with his estranged son. (First Look Pictures)


GENRE(S): Drama  
WRITTEN BY: Michael Rohatyn
Ira Sachs
 
DIRECTED BY: Ira Sachs  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: June 13, 2006 
Theatrical: September 28, 2005 
RUNNING TIME: 108 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic), 2005 Sundance Film Festival; Grand Special Prize, 2005 Deauville Film Festival

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kate Taylor
Delicate, intelligent and honest.
Read Full Review
90
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
A compelling family melodrama somewhat in the manner of late John Cassavetes or early Robert Altman…the film combines high production values, terrific acting and a distinctively American lyricism in a combination you hardly ever see these days.
Read Full Review
90
The New York Times Dana Stevens
Alan, who Mr. Sachs has said was based on his own father, is a great character - passionate, complicated, bursting with life. Those words also describe Mr. Torn's performance.
Read Full Review
83
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Director Ira Sachs moves to the rhythms of his native Memphis, teasing emotional resonance out of geography.
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83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
The song may be somewhat familiar, but Sach gets understated performances from his entire cast and finds interesting harmonies as they play out their clashing duets.
Read Full Review
80
The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Investing a lot of time on each corner of his three-sided character piece, director Ira Sachs (who co-wrote the film with Michael Rohatyn) has created a film as dramatically intense as it is opaque.
Read Full Review
80
LA Weekly Scott Foundas
This is still powerful, undiluted stuff -- a jolt of backwoods moonshine whiskey injected into the veins of the atrophied American relationship drama.
Read Full Review
80
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Sachs has pulled off a film of inferences and intimations, thanks largely to the casting of accomplished actors.
Read Full Review
75
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Rip Torn gives his best performance in years.
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75
San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
A slow seduction.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
I despised the character of Alan James so sincerely that I had to haul back at one point to remind myself that, hey, I've met Rip Torn and he's a nice guy and he's only acting.
Read Full Review
70
Variety Todd McCarthy
A muted but nicely observed study of a Russian woman's gradual estrangement from her domineering Memphis music-legend husband.
Read Full Review
60
Village Voice Michael Atkinson
It's Korzun's film, and she is in complete control of her character, never divulging too much of the haunted woman under the studied facade of American hotsiness.
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50
The Hollywood Reporter Duane Byrge
A drab, minor-key melodrama.
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40
Film Threat Jeremy Mathews
Repetitive interaction between characters in an aimless story can't hold up the film's weight, and it eventually collapses on its noble attempt to capture life's frustrations and compromises.
Read Full Review
40
Empire Patrick Peters
Rip Torn and Darren Burrows respectively over- and underplay their hands in this archly restrained Memphis melodrama.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

John B. gave it a2:
I can't imagine how this film received so many good reviews. (best drama at Sundance-you must be kidding!) It is a really thin, depressing little story that goes nowhere. The relationships between the characters are not in any way believable or interesting, and even the sex scenes were poorly done. [***SPOILERS***] The final scene was representative of the entire film-the female lead walks away from the car-no resolution, no closure, no reason to know what will happen to the characters, and even worse, no reason to care.The director is obviously new at filmaking, and needs more experience. I'm only sorry I had to sit through one of his early learning experiences, because it was boring and worth nothing.

Brian C. gave it a9:
Dynamite acting pulls this several notches above the pack.. Rip Torn is memorable.

Francisco M. gave it a10:
Rip Torn gives an amazing performance. I really enjoyed the film.

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