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Waitress it’s not.

The idea of blueberry pie as a film metaphor has certain sweet, even saccharine connotations. You might think of a gushy romance, or a light, frothy comedy, or even a coming-of-age story served a la mode. But make no mistake: My Blueberry Nights is none of these things. Renowned Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai uses the blueberry pie as a symbol of loneliness - people left behind, people unloved and unwilling to move on. Around this central image, he has concocted a cinematic recipe that’s a little bit sweet, a little bit sour, and a whole lot of an acquired taste.

Singer Norah Jones takes her first lead role - actually, her first acting role at all, unless you count a cute little appearance on Sesame Street - as a girl who goes to a New York diner looking for her guy. She finds out that the guy has been there with another girl, so she returns again, and again, and again, seeking closure she never gets. Instead, she strikes up a friendship with the diner’s owner, Jeremy - played by Jude Law - who introduces her to the fishbowl of keys he keeps behind the counter, and the blueberry pie he has left over every night.

And so begins this girl’s journey, wandering the country and encountering fellow lonely souls. A couple of months later finds her working a Memphis diner, where she strikes up a friendship with a police officer (David Strathairn) who has a drinking problem, a shattered marriage and nowhere to go. Later still, ends up farther west, making the acquaintance of a gambler (Natalie Portman) with a high-stakes proposition. All the time, she sends letters back to Jeremy, who realizes he may have let a true soulmate walk straight out the door.

The editing of the film is peculiar, a bit like a stageplay with little inserts of slow-motion cutaway. Different scenes are separated by tiny moments which, while still involving out characters, often lack a strong sense of narrative cohesion; instead, they come across partly as time passage, partly as the stuff of memory, sometimes narrated, sometimes not. It makes for a strangely lethargic film, and very like a dream, cutting from one reality to another, never allowing a single point-of-view to hang for very long. This is director Wong Kar Wai’s first English-language film, and to those who have seen his earlier works, like In the Mood for Love and 2046, some of the technique will be familiar: the strong colors, the slow motion, the repeated use of old standards like “Try a Little Tenderness.” Unforunately, it fails the episodic nature of this story, or perhaps the reverse is true: telling multiple stories in one makes the whole thing too fractured, too fragmented. The acting is solid, and Jones herself might even be a revelation as a first-time actor, but it’s not enough. My Blueberry Nights is a pretty piece of cinema, but I think it’s going to tire most viewers out long before it reaches its final conclusion.

My Blueberry Nights comes to DVD from the Weinstein Company, and it’s attractively labeled as #5 on the spine, in case you’re collecting the full “Miriam Collection,” whatever that is. (Actually, a little research reveals that it’s supposed to be “high quality and contemporary classics”; so, exactly what the Weinsteins used to release under Miramax, then.) The film is presented in an anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer that is bright and clear; the shifts in color palette are a trademark of the direction and obviously intentional. The film is accompanied by a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, with optional English for the Hearing Impaired and Spanish subtitles; the English subtitles are also available for the major featurettes.

Making My Blueberry Nights (16 mins.) is the usual light promotional piece, with behind-the-scenes footage, and comments from the director, actors Norah Jones, Jude Law, David Strathairn, and Natalie Portman. It’s not bad, though there’s little here that will really surprise you. The interviews are captured on video and thus of a lesser quality than the clips from the film. The overall piece is presented in anamorphic 16:9.

Q&A with Director Wong Kar Wai (18 mins.) is a recording of a Museum of the Moving Image panel from April 3, 2008. MOMI chief curator David Schwartz interviews the director, and from behind his ever-present sunglasses Wong answers his questions and those from the audience. Presented in anamorphic 16:9, with burnt-in subttiles to hear the quiet audience questions, this is really the only featurette of any substance. The panel covers topics ranging from the fluidity of Wong Kar Wai’s films to his process of working with a very loose script. Most of it is geared around My Blueberry Nights, and it’s pretty interesting stuff.

Theatrical Trailer (2 mins.) is, well, what else? The theatrical trailer, presented anamorphically. Pretty, and somewhat more cohesive than the actual picture. It does, however, commit the mortal sin of giving away the last shot of the film.

Still Galleries is made up of two sections: “Location Scout Photos” and “Production/Publicity Photos.” Both feature several dozen photos - in the former’s case, panoramic shots - that are windowboxed within a themed layout, including a set of rather silly artificial postcards (I mean, it’s not as if you can print them out and mail them…). You have to flip through the photos individually with your remote. They’re actually very nice photographs, for the most part, but does anybody actually watch these galleries on a DVD? I’d rather see a nice artistic booklet with a few well-chosen shots, or even an internet weblink. 

The disc opens with trailers for The Deal (actually an acclaimed TV movie), Berlin, Breaking and Entering, The Great Debaters and a PSA for thetruth.com. The DVD case includes a one-page insert for other entries in the “Miriam Collection.”

My Blueberry Nights is not, in any way, a bad film - but it’s not an overly memorable one, either. If you’re particularly attuned to the sensibility of Wong Kar Wai, and have followed his career up to this point, you may find it illuminating; most others, I think, will find the cinematic style too frustrating, and the overall experience too melancholy for the admittedly slight story. It’s hard to recommend this one without any real special features, either. My suggestion: if this one interests you, give it a rental. Otherwise, move on to something else.

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