Blue Valentine

Not an Action Figure
This year, Ryan Gosling and a band of similarly arty, polymathic weirdos are leading a revolt against the plastic leading man.

The Molotov Cocktail—a Stoli bottle filled with flammable strawberry liqueur—was his idea. He wanted it to look legit, so he studied James Nachtwey’s documentary photos of rioters in Gaza to get the position of his hand on the bottle just right. The original plan was to toss it at a blown-up photo of himself, but the necessary printer wasn’t available. Also, there was the possibility of burning the building down. So he found a target at the...