Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Genre: They claim it's comedy.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind is not your regular, formulaic romantic comedy. This comedy is romance in reverse…romance sucked dry of all the sugary idealism. It’s the story of Clementine (Kate Winslet) and Joel (Jim Carrey) and the fact that they end up hating each other enough to erase one another from their memories. Clementine goes first, Joel follows shortly after, and that’s where this non-linear mess of a beautiful film begins.
Jim Carrey ceases to be his persona in this film. He’s one of those stars that’s sooo huge and recognizable that it’s hard to ever see past his teeth and goofy face to the character he’s playing (well, the characters are usually him…in various manic phases of silliness). In this film I ceased to see Carrey, and I actually saw Joel Barish in all his pained reeling and withdrawal. Kate Winslet is the nutcase in this film…the wild-haired drunken loon, and she plays the part compellingly.
Eternal Sunshine provokes interesting questions and starts a great conversation on the meaning of memory and how it serves us at our lowest. Wouldn’t life be perfect if we could forget those people who have hurt us the most? If we could erase those nagging memories that keep us awake at night and twist our guts into balloon animals? According to Eternal Sunshine, maybe not. What do we become when our memories are gone? How do we avoid making the same mistakes all over again? Have we lived if there’s no internal evidence of our struggles left? If our emotional flesh is stripped away…
Michel Gondry has directed a film of great insight and emotion, not to mention a labyrinth of twisting storylines: the linear story of Joel’s erasing procedure, and the backward dash through his relationship with Clem. As the viewer travels with Joel back through his memories of the relationship with Clementine we feel the sensation of her being torn from him. In the midst of his unconsciousness, as he’s undergoing the erasing procedure, he struggles with losing the bad memories and the good, and he tries to hide his memory of Clem in the dark recesses of childhood events…baths in the sink and being teased by his playmates.
Gondry has avoided today’s tendency to be a CGI whore in favor of organic “special effects.” He uses forced perspective, naked 75 watt bulbs, and adjusted camera speeds to create the surreal atmosphere in Joel’s head, so in addition to a strikingly thoughtful film, we’re faced with a collection of dashingly handsome images.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one to add to the permanent collection, and Jim Carrey got the shaft from the Oscar folks.
posted by Anonymous at 5:45 PM
7 Comments:
First time I've stopped in at this part of your world. I'm not big on movies, even less so with books, so it's nice to let others give me a clue. I am, however, big on music, and I was interested in what you had to say about Mandy Moore.
I had read some decent reviews about her last CD "Coverage", so I bought it. Definitely worth the $$. All remakes of pop/rock songs from the 70s. Including a great version of Elton John's "Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters" (one of his earliest). She burst on the scene about the same time as Britney and Christina, and I assumed she would follow in their footsteps. Well, far from it! The girl has definitely got a good head on her shoulders. A decent actress, a true musical talent, and a young model's face (Revlon ??). Truly under-appreciated!
On a different note, how does a blond from TX (is that blond in your profile?) get associated with a raven-haired beauty from Canada? Did you go to school together, or was this a chance internet thing? Just curious.
Hey Os! I heard a few cuts off of Coverage and I was pretty impressed. It was a far cry from her first single, which my friends and I made fun of like mad in high school. She's a great actress....defintely multi-talented.
Non and I met in a Yahoo book discussion group, and the rest is history. :o)
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you'll come by again! I do plan to review music...once I have some $$$ to buy new CD's. lol
ETSM is a wonderful film, I especially liked the employees of the memory removal company (i forget its name).
ANd I agree, Carrey wasn't annoying at all, normally I'm not a fan of his films, although I do like some of his darker ones; Cable Guy, Truman Show, wouldn't regard myself as a fan of his.
I liked them, too, Fence. Especially the one with the spikey hair and black glasses....that dated Kirsten Dunst's character. Elijah Wood was really creepy in this one.
Awww, Meredith! Let me know what you think of it. I hope you start feeling better. I cancelled a couple of my classes today because I felt so bad. Blahhh!
Amen, Flesh! I agree wholeheartedly. I liked him in A Series of Unfortunate Events, too, but he was assier in that one.
I have to agree. I really hated him in his Cable Guy period but since Man on the Moon I love the guy
Post a Comment
<< Home