Powder Blue: A Light Shower of Confetti

A transsexual prostitute, a suicidal straggler, a grieving ex-con, an asthmatic mortician and a fretful stripper-- now, doesn't that sound like a bar joke gone wrong?

The remarkable thing is how it isn't.

It's the list of characters in "Powder Blue", directed and written by Timothy Linh Bui, that focuses lightly on all of these woeful people as they all trudge along despite their own pain and dissatisfaction, each of them unconsciously vying for the "most fucked-up" award. Who'll survive?

The poignant and bleak atmosphere of the powdery backdrop resides within Los Angeles, as we are drawn to the suicidal beggary of Forest Whitaker's brooding and depressed lonely man portrayal. It is piteous and we only begin to understand his pain toward the end of the film, telling why he wishes to die and why he cannot do the deed himself, yet must ask another to end his life for him. Finding that certain somebody is a tougher task to achieve.

I found myself most drawn to his character and missed his struggle while the other characters shared their own suffering instead. Luckily, this film does come around full circle, filling in the spaces eventually.

Next we are shown the portrait of a recently paroled ex-con, intricately played by Ray Liotta. He gravely misses the life he left behind, including his darling wife that recently passed away, in exchange for a prison sentence and becomes infatuated with a stripper upon release.

Clearly it is learned that none of these characters value superficial treasures such as money. Both Forest's and Liotta's roles are practically treating it like autumn leaves. Clearly, they all seek a higher quality of contentment and it never seems that they find it.

That stripper is Jessica Biel, and she truly grates at one's compassion. Her son is in a vegetative state in the hospital, her father left her at an early age and her mother recently passed away. She is devoted to her shameful occupation in order to pay for her son's hospital bills. Blatantly, it is painfully obvious how she has begun to lose her sense of rationale. She can't understand why her boy hasn't woken up yet and more importantly why doctors are powerless to alter her harrowing reality. To supplement her torment, she becomes close to a pet dog that wanders off early in the film and is hit by the passing car of an asthmatic, socially shy mortician. Yet another agonized basket case, he initially becomes defensive upon sight of fliers which tell of the missing dog as he covetously rips them off poles in Los Angeles. Along the way, he takes care of the wounded animal and eventually sees good sense in finding Biel's stripper to return the beloved pet.

The last car wreck of a soul is a transsexual prostitute that wishes to change genders, but obviously doesn't have the funding for the operation itself. They numbly proceed through their dangerous lifestyle and incite Forest's strange and suicidal straggler. They have jaded views on suicide themselves and lash out at Forest's despondent request. Later we learn that they fancy a razor blade over such a vacuous existence. This is the tragic character and it serves the story well.

As time passes, the stripper compels the mortician and they begin to distract themselves from their separate trials through each other's fondness of one another. Meanwhile, Ray Liotta falls out of touch with Biel's stripper and Forest's straggler hobbles along in search of an assisted suicide, even despite glimpses of a delightful substitute as he chats sweetly with some females throughout the film.

Don't be mistaken; this is no fairytale. Other than the theme of 'misery loves company', you'll find no sweet conclusions, only compromises. To make up for it, there are some ambiguous but artful scenes.

This grounds the picture into reality and it is easily appreciated, even if it means there won't be a heartwarming finale to each character's battle with life's sick sense of humor. It's subtle and somewhat quaint, but I found myself fancying it as it scraped along. It's awkward and sad, but the performances steal your heart away. I'd rank Biel's as the best and sadly regret that Liotta's role could not have been expanded. It feels a bit empty with the conclusion, but it still was a worthwhile film.