I avoided watching this because of how much I thought I'd be comparing it to Blue Valentine. I was way off, and I thoroughly enjoyed this. Driver and Johansson are next level. Damn.. kinda drained can't lie
honestly, fucked me up worse than Blue Valentine in the last half
Two diff movies with the same story more or less, Blue Valentine was just way more raw to me. Although the first meeting with Dern and Johansson was extremely raw, and the apartment scene obviously. However the doctor's office scene in Blue Valentine and the last scene in the kitchen are prob my two fav acting scenes from Gosling. Idk .. I can go on and on about how Blue Valentine is better... but the more I type the more I think they're equal.. just two really well done movies.
I can see how Marriage Story would fuck with you more. Charlie and Nicole did love each other a lot and still do.
I still think love exists towards the end of Blue Valentine as well. Its juts more raw. When everything breaks down and Dean makes a huge scene at Cindys work its broken. Its the smaller moments when they are screaming at each other in the parking lot and Dean throws the ring. Cindy comes back and helps him look and the argument disappears even for a second. Love is present, It just wasn't healthy anymore. I found Marriage Story to be very tame in comparison TBH
Blue Valentine is more visceral / raw, Star is Born is too, but Marriage Story feels more "ordinary" and or even banal, giving those moments a real-world credibility that really fucked me up