A YOUNG woman (Norah Jones) takes a soul-searching journey across America to resolve her questions about love while encountering a series of offbeat characters along the way.

The first full length English-language feature from In The Mood for Love director, Wong Kar Wai, it’s also a big screen debut for Norah Jones, best known until now as a supremely talented jazz-inflected singer (and daughter of the late Ravi Shankar). Those factors might seem like potential stumbling blocks as Hollywood has generated more than its fair share of turkeys featuring singing stars desperate to cross over to the silver screen. Just look at Elvis, bless him. And while In the Mood for Love is a slow-burning Chinese classic, few mainstream movie fans will even have heard of the director.

Pleasingly, canny casting and a clutch of powerhouse performances – plus a classy soundtrack featuring veteran Ry Cooder and (natch) Jones herself – combine to great effect to produce a satisfying variation on a well-worn theme. The road trip is nothing new although heart-broken Elizabeth (Jones) takes a greener mode of transport (the bus) while saving up for her car.

Despite his star billing, Law plays a rather more peripheral role as Jeremy, a café owner who provides a shoulder to cry on when Elizabeth first crosses his path. Amusingly, he keeps slipping out of the Yorkshire accent one is led to believe he is supposed to ‘ave for the role into his native sarf-east London twang. But he smolders as well as ever and hints at hidden depths with those big blue eyes.

Indeed it’s the lower billed characters who really shine in this unusual film. David Strathairn is a particularly convincing drunk holding down a day job as a cop whilst pining over the wife who has walked out on him but who, perhaps surprisingly, keeps walking into the bar he frequents. Natalie Portman as a gambler with a troubled past injects some energy into a film which is typical of the director’s slow-burning style.

Sure, there are a few less-than-convincing scenarios – as when Jeremy and Elizabeth encounter one another with coincidental bloody noses (why? It has no bearing on the plot and isn’t funny) – but it somehow it all adds up to a satisfying cockle warmer.

And what of the beautiful Norah Jones? She has described her foray into acting as an enjoyable distraction. In truth she has the ‘straight’ role here amidst some altogether quirkier characters. But she plays the part to perfection. Is it fair that one individual should be endowed with quite so much talent?

My Blueberry Nights plays at Eden Court cinema until Monday, March 24.

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