Here is Mr. Weinstein’s official response:
“ We want to express our deepest gratitude to our colleagues in the industry and in the media for their recent outpouring of support for Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine after the film surprisingly received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. We are taking every possible step to contest the MPAA’s decision. We respect the work of the MPAA and we hope, after having a chance to sit down with them, they will see that our appeal is reasonable, and the film, which is an honest and personal portrait of a relationship, would be significantly harmed by such a rating.”
Having seen many films that were rated R of such extreme violence, it seems beyond strange that the MPAA would claim there was anything so difficult to see for anyone over the age of 17 that it would get that kind of rating. Here’s to hoping Blue Valentine gets a Best Picture nod out of the deal.
But that’s America for you: violence is okay but sex? Let’s all live double lives and pretend it isn’t the major motivation for almost everything we do 24/7 – consciously or unconsciously.
In related news, PBS is currently running a Frontline series called God in America. This is ground zero for our puritanical hysterical.