Pain. Some say it may be relative and I find myself in agreement. Great lengths are taken to numb it, but mostly without strength our cures can be worse than the disease.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind explores these themes in a surreal fashion. Joel is an ordinary boring guy who ditches work one day and for reasons he can't explain travels to the beach. On the train he meets Clementine, a vibrant fun loving gal who attempts to get to know the quiet passenger. Instant chemistry arises between the two and Joel finds himself smitten with the fun Clementine.
Rewind a day earlier. Joel is broken hearted to find his love has moved on and ignored him. He finds out she has opted for a medical procedure to erase all memories of him and their tumultuous relationship. In his anger he decides to do the same and let go all thoughts of her.
The film then has the doctor and technicians erasing all memories Joel has of his love while he sleeps. The images he has of his past love are interspersed with the voices of the technicians working on him. He soon realizes what's going on and tries to convince the dream version of his ex that they must fight to hold on to the visuals he keeps in his heart.
If you haven't figured it out by now the ex in question is indeed Clementine. I won't give away any more.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a visual masterpiece full of eye candy that'll keep any film buff glued to the screen. While this may sound like a Gilliam film this movie holds true timeless themes of romance and how the heart works. I think a lot of us would like to bury our emotions and start over completely, but even if you can't you love the person that you choose to, even if you don't understand it.
It's amazing how I watched this film at this time in my life. I know most of you won't understand why I just typed that. Just trust me on this.
Given it's great cast, the spectacle for the cerebral, and the heart of this story I would highly recommend it. Thanks to WIGSF for submitting this. Wanna see a film reviewed by Wiwille? Drop me an email or comment and you'll see it soon on Erik's Ramblings. Rules are posted here.
"Despite jumping through the deliberately disorienting hoops of its story, Eternal Sunshine has an emotional center, and that's what makes it work." - Roger Ebert
10 comments:
Ok, that sounds like a really good plot. I love the idea of erasing people from ones memory. Brilliant.
Hmm it sounds kind of wanky to me, medical procedures to erase memories.....are you sure you weren't watching Days of Our Lives or something like that haha!
Oh and I think you should review Alvin and the Chimpmonks....but only because you said you hope to never see it, I've never seen it nor will I, but I think you should :P
Bah munks, chipmunks!
Thanks Miss Ash, thanks a lot. lol
It's still cute!
P.S. Erik, I'm going to add that movie to the list! Here's to hoping!
I adore this movie. It really got to me...very thought provoking. I may have to watch it again since it's been a while.
Care to elaborate on your last comment?
Grace - Yeah it's a great concept. Truly original.
Miss Ash, Sarebeth - Reviewing Alvin and the Chipmunks will clearly violate one the "no horeshit" rule of the movie reviews.
Jlee - I hadn't seen it in a while either. I really enjoyed catching the things I missed earlier.
Jinasne - Maybe someday. I've written a little about it earlier, but haven't felt the need to express it again.
Eternal Sunshine is a great movie, and much deeper than "Days of Our Lives," thank you very much.
But then again, I really liked "The Truman Show", which a lot of people didn't. And I'm a sucker for movies that play around with concepts of reality and/or memory.
Excellent movie, especially the side focus on the relationship between Kirsten's character and the doctor and how this affected them. Certainly recommended
This is an awesome movie. On my list of ones to buy, it's one of those that I catch more every time I see it. I thought Jim Carrey was brilliant in it and Matt Bear, I loved the Truman Show as well.
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