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March 22, 2004
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: review +
Over the weekend, I went to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It was very good, especially because of the incredibly good supporting cast, including David Cross and Jane Adams.
The theme of the movie is best described in the style of Oscar Wilde: The only thing worse than remembering your former lovers is not remembering your former lovers.
The problem with writing about this movie in a blog context is that, because of the theme of the movie, anything to be said about it will automatically be emotionally-oriented and probably get into some personal kind of relationship stuff. It reminds me of conversations I have with friends I've known for 10+ years, in which we notice strange trends about all the people we date, like how they all have their overbearing mothers, or how they all are only children, or how they all could talk about Blade Runner for the rest of their lives without getting bored.
The subtext of the movie, underneath all the lovey-dovey stuff about "'tis better to have loved and lost" etc. etc. is that maybe we all keep making the same mistakes with different people in each new relationship we have. Even if we get over someone and "move on", who's to say we won't just recreate the exact same situation in another time with another person? A sub-plot in the movie suggests the darker side of the nice Jim Carrey-Kate Winslet primary plot. And even that main plot isn't as hopelessly romantic as many reviews would lead you to believe: both of characters are so overtly flawed, and so outspoken in their (accurate) criticisms of each other, that it's easy to understand why they would want to wipe out their memories of each other.
And also, overall, it's much more consistent than Kaufman's other movies. No Act III falling off the side of the cliff. Just don't let critics make you think it's some kind of date movie--it's much better than that.
