Wednesday, March 24, 2004

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd.
-- Alexander Pope, "Eloisa to Abelard"

Blessed are the forgetful: for they get the better even of their blunders.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche

last night, i went to watch "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" at bayview village with ebrian and ken. what a great movie. i definitely expected something weird considering it was written by charlie kaufman (who also came up with the just as bizarre "being john malkovich" and "adaptation"), but it was also a thoughtful, often hilarious, well-crafted movie. it had a very good love story, a crazy yet entertaining subplot, and great acting performances from jim carrey and kate winslet. it was kinda odd too 'cause jim carrey was playing the quiet and somewhat boring, joel, while kate winslet was the eccentric wild child, clementine. (and she had her american accent down pat too!)

you're probably wondering what the movie is about. in a nutshell, joel and clementine's relationship didn't end well, so they go see a quack doctor @ Lacuna Inc. to erase their memories of each other in their mind. half the movie is about the erasure of joel's memories of clementine and the other part about them meeting again after they've 'forgotten' about each other. it's actually hard to summarize properly 'cause it's just such a strange / quirky premise, but i'm also hesitant to reveal too much 'cause there are a couple twists and turns that you have to see for yourself. i'm glad i didn't read too many reviews out there 'cause i found some of them told too much of the plot!

the movie brings about some interesting thoughts. would i want to erase my most forgettable thoughts from memory? my ex? ;) some of my last two years at university? while it's true that some of these things that i wish i didn't have to experience or i had a chance to do over, as the movie pointed out, along with the bad there is a lot of good. and those ones i'd probably want to keep. even though my relationship with my ex didn't end very well, somehow we've managed to develop a very good friendship over the years. we've even been able to laugh about all stupid things we did / said to each when we broke up. even though i had some tough personal challenges at school, i believe that's what gave me the inner strength to overcome other life experiences. you know, even if i could start all over again, it's very possible and likely that things would turn out exactly the same. perhaps, it's God's subtle way of reminding me that all the happiness and joy i do have in my life makes the occasional hardship and / or sorrow worth it. but i digress... :)

anyway, if you get a chance to, i would definitely recommend you give it a look. i think it's one of those movies that will only draw a select crowd and that's too bad. yesterday when i was calling around to see if some other people wanted to watch, as soon as i mentioned charlie kaufman / being john malkovich, people took a pass 'cause they thought it would be too weird. i'm disappointed that not more people are more willing to watch more artistic / inventive films, instead of the abundance of mainstream hollywood crap out there. :P

if you're interested in going, let me know. i think i want to watch it again. there's probably some good lines and sights that i'll be able to catch the 2nd time around! :)

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