Forty Shades of Blue

Ira Sachs, the director behind the great movie The Delta, has made another film about people’s loneliness. Forty Shades of Blue is an interesting drama, set in Memphis, where one of the main characters, Alan James (Rip Torn), is a legendary local record producer. Allan is aging but still active, and seems to live a great life with his young Russian girlfriend Laura and their three year old son. Laura feels stranded in a strange country and caught in loneliness as Allan works most of the time. But when Allan’s grown up son Michael from a previous marriage, who is a writer from Los Angeles, comes to visit his old man, life is about to change. Laura is desperate to do something about her life, so when Michael hits on her she doesn’t hesitate to get involved with him, which of course is a dangerous game. The movie follows Laura during a particularly intense period. The film shows the loneliness of being inside your own skin, and the inability to communicate the deeper feelings you know, but can’t articulate. PAOLA LANGDAL