I genuinely assumed and still assume he'll end up giving it a 10... but that has a lot to do with it being in my top 4 movies of all time (that I've seen) next to 2001 A Space Odyssey, Citizen Kane and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

I wasn't blown away by the elements of the film that are more commercialized, but what really grabbed me was its creative use of kind of meditating on these cliches in an extremely tasteful way to justifiably support a greater, very profound and cinematic story between two people that is reflective general romance, all-the-while commentating on idealistic, hopeful, motivational thinking vs. the very complex reality. The cinematic moment that really turns the movie into something special and then doesn't let up from that point on -- is the J-cut of Gosling's horn from the opening scene while Emma dreamily listens to him play the piano. It's like an abstract piece of music that you don't know why it's there and then it brilliantly segues back in time to Ryan's perspective, and the movie really demands the attention from the audience from thereon.

The scene with the two having their cliche break-up moment fight at the table is shot much closer up and more static than the entire film prior, and it's kind of like "oh, is the movie gonna have some dull moments, is then when the film is gonna reveal itself to be less than a masterpiece and more of a wonderful-but-flawed piece of cinema?" But then... that jarring camera style, when they get up from their seats turns into handheld for the first real time in the film. And it's suddenly like an underwhelming indie movie, but for the best and most integrated reason to support the Direction that's driving the story. They have a cold moment that is being framed of their faces like this emotion is going to be unfortunately framed in their memories as the most memorable and jarring emotions they share with one another, and after that is a relative earthquake as they desperately scatter apart in a more hyper-realistic style. Idealism gets shoved out of the movie, to cold stillness, to a grounded shaking emotional unraveling of everything they've ever hoped for in life.

I could go on about what I got from this film -- but THAT WHOLE ENDING WAS INCREDIBLE, it just got better, and better, and better, and better, and better, and better, and if you try to nitpick it, it nitpicks itself, and even that questionable and seemingly flawed aspect... means something.

10/10, and up to 11.