It all began with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind…
This film is one of the most beautiful films in the history of film-making. It blew me away and completely underscored the creative magic of sci-fi films. I mean, I’m sci-fi fan… I’ve seen Star Wars and E.T. and Jaws… I appreciate the genre because of films like those… but… Eternal Sunshine took the league to a whole new level, imploding ethereal beauty along a plain and slow-moving canvass… causing a monumental, transcendental shift within my life… fuxxing up my mind.
And after seeing it, I knew I had fallen in love… with film…
What had separated Eternal Sunshine from other sci-fi films was its potent subtlety. Charlie Kaufmann, the screenwriter, took a simple, human experience, like romantic break-ups, and dream-weaved it into something fantastical… yes, wonderfully explosive.
And fourteen years after seeing the film, I’m still trying to master Kaufmann’s artistic sense of story, structural genius, and other-wordly yet meaningful voice. Kaufmann is a badass and he knows it:
Then, on top of that, Michel Gondry, the film’s director, oddly casted Jim Carrey as a lead in this romance film. Ummm… WTF. (Jim, I’m sorry, but you’re the last person I expected to play “mac daddy” on the big screen. And the clearest mental picture I have of your “acting chops” is an image of you gawking like a damn idiot and saying “Alrighty then” in the film like Ace Ventura When Nature Calls.)
There was no way I thought any director could tame Carrey to make him play a serious role, yet alone, say a serious line. But Michel Gondry ignored that memo…
Furthermore, Gondry took it a step further by demanding graceful chemistry between a type-casted character like Carrey and an elegant, sexy, thriving actress like Kate Winslet. I mean, just look at Winslet’s face… this chick was the queen of that infamously epic film called the Titanic , which means that she has serious blockbuster value.
So when I say that Gondry was like mad scientist, you can absolutely see why. I just think all the stars aligned for this film and then additionally, carried Saturn’s positive energy to create the film’s successful path. Either way, Kaufmann and Gondry pulled it off, geniusly creating something so psychedelically charming through the juxtaposition of the gritty yet ethereal nature of love.
Logline
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a film about two ex-lovers who get memories of the other erased so that they could escape the heartbreak experienced after love lost.
Favorite Scene
Baby Joel pacing in the kitchen while whining to be held by his mother, with Clementine subsequently trying to console him by showing him her crotch.
Favorite Lines:
“You did this to me first…”
“They stole your underwear…”
“Two blue ruins makes the seduction part less repugnant…”
“What the hell are you talking about? I can’t just cancel it. I’m asleep.”
“I’m so stoned. Those eyedrops you gave me don’t do shit.”
“How happy is the blameless vessels lot, the world forgetting by the world forgot, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, each prayer accepted, and each wish resigned.” (Original quote by Alexander Pope)
“Too many guys think that I’m a concept or that I complete them or that I’m going to make them alive, but I’m just a fuxxxd up girl looking for a peace of mind, don’t assign me yours.”
“Remember me. Try your best.”
“Come back and make up a goodbye at least… or pretend we had one.”
-EF
Recent Comments