Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

[da]

I apologize if you haven't seen it, because the next paragraph is probably not going to make much sense.

I can't believe I hadn't seen this movie until now. A sentimentalist like me. I liked it. A lot. I mean, aside from agreeing with the lesson that erasing someone's painful memories wouldn't be the easy right answer; aside from the two leads which had amazing chemistry and the well-done production which used effects without feeling trite; and apart from the sheer "what the hell just happened". Something through this made me quite sad and also grateful. I'm guessing it might have to do with the connections of memory-loss and life-loss. And loneliness. Joel's re-imagining the beach-house with Clem, forcing himself to reinvent a memory he could keep, with her in it- felt like a fairly major assertion about the best of our stubbornness, fighting giving in to despair. And again the motif of learning something different this time around the loop, this time regarding relationships revisiting the same emotional ground again.

So, what did you think of it?...

Ironically, after I rented this but before I watched it, dan and I were talking about what to do with ephemera such as old audio tapes. So my plan was to go through my box of cassette tapes and decide whether I need to send my mix tapes off to these folks to record them digitally at ~$6 a tape. I got far enough to realize I kinda didn't have the wherewithal to deal with that at the same time as watching the movie.

Comments

[fuzzpsych.livejournal.com]

Depending on how many mix tapes you have, I could do them quite easily for you.

And yeah, it's a great movie. Makes you wonder how good Jim Carey can be when he sets his mind to it, so why doesn't he?

[kraig.livejournal.com]

Loved the movie, but I also like Coen Brothers movies, so my taste (according to Linda) is questionable. I think it's the loneliness and desperation that appeals to me.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

I loved that film. And I usually hate Jim Carrey, so it must have been really, really good to get over my usual irritation!

[cypherpunk95.livejournal.com]

Chime. I had exactly the same opinion of the film.

I can't believe I hadn't seen this movie until now.

I was worried this was going to go somewhere silly. ;-)

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

I remember walking out of the theatre feeling, as you say, sad and grateful. I was amazed by Carrey's performance--I think the key is having a director who knows how to engage him while holding him back. The idea of memory is a core part of my identity and the whole thing affected me very strongly.

I sometimes think that one of the reasons we take our loved ones back to earlier scenes of our lives--our hometowns, places we visited before knowing them, etc.--is not only so that they have context for us, but because having found a person with whom we want to make memories from now on, we somehow want them to have always been there, to be part of our memories from before we even knew them. The scenes of Joel trying to hide Clem in his early memories reminded me of that feeling.

[mynatt.livejournal.com]

I agree, great film.

[jackspryte.livejournal.com]

Loved the movie as well. I think there is quite a few truths in there.

[chezmax]

I've added it to my ziplist, for when I eventually activate my zip account.

[chezmax]

Wow, that was pretty awesome.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Yay! :)

[chezmax]

I was very creeped out by the Elijah Wood character dating Clem by appealing to her now-forgotten memories.