Reply With Quoteafter watching his dvd set, michael gondry is my new favorite person. i don't know much of anything about this film, but i'll see it anyway. the charlie kaufman connection is just icing on the cake.
Eternal Sunshine opened today, and being a huge fan of Adaptation and Being John Malcovich, I was eager to see Charlie Kaufman's latest, and surprised and delighted to find it his best.
In typical Kaufman fashion the movie involves some innovative head-trickery in its premise. It follows a man, Joel (Jim Carrey), who suffers a breakup with his girlfreind of 2 years, Clementine (Kate Winslet). She undergoes a new medical procedure to have her memories of him erased, rendering him a stranger to her. Unable to cope with this, Joel decides to undergo the same procedure to forget her. Most of the rest of the movie takes place in Joel's mind, in his memories as she is being erased, starting with the relationship's end, and moving backward towards the beginning. Halfway through the procedure, Joel remembers what he loved about Clementine and changes his mind. The rest of the movie follows Joels efforts to cling to his memory of Clementine before she's gone for good.
The movie isn't all a clever gimmick though. It's a very touching, and bittersweet portrayal of love, with all of its imperfections, with a fatalism that almost seems optimistic. Very honest, very satisfying, and manages to tug at the heartstrings without glamourized ideals or cliches. The movie really knocked me on my ass. I highly suggest you go see it.
Please look forward to it!
after watching his dvd set, michael gondry is my new favorite person. i don't know much of anything about this film, but i'll see it anyway. the charlie kaufman connection is just icing on the cake.
Gondry's first film, Human Nature, (also penned by Kaufman) got blasted pretty hard, but from what I hear it was never meant to be anything but silly fluff. But yeah, his short works are very cool, and he gets to show off some cool conceptual stuff here. Some of it's very subtle, like glitches of memory. Books in the background losing their covers, people in the corner of the screen disappearing... it's a technically well made film.Originally Posted by epmode
i drink it up!
I passed on an opportunity to see this tonight. I'll probably get to it next weekend. It looks interesting. Isn't there one point where....
possible spoilers ahead**************>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Where Jim is riding a car and suddenly it disappears?
There's alot of funky transitions between memories as things are being erased. There are cars, people, places that all just vanish, as well as entire scenes. But never a car dropping out from under him, no. It's more like the memory of where he's at in its entirety slipping away. The movie can get pretty surreal.
And I still don't beleive people are passing on this movie for a zombie flick with mediocre reviews.
Cotton-headed Ninny Muggins
I saw it.
It was awesome.
I loved the thinking involved with the film, it was great. The whole movie was just awesome. Hard to really say unless you see it.
I knew when she said 'I messed up your car' and he went outside and saw the damage that the beginning of the movie was actually the 'new' relationship of them meeting for the first time but not really the first time. On the train they say a lot of things from their past relationship. Really cool.
Elijah Wood was a cool character who kind of was stealing Jims identity but at the same time was triggering things in Clems mind that reminded her of something, that she couldnt understand what. Really cool
Really cool movie, some comedy too. The stuff where Joel is a kid was funny. Had to get SOME funny in a Carrey movie. Jim was awesome in this movie, totally different from ANYTHING I've seen him do.
He proved to me he can act in roles other than comedies.
2 Thumbs Up.
Oh BTW, our theatre was almost empty. About 20 people? You're right, the masses went to see teh zombies. Oh well, that movie is getting good reviews too so each to their own I suppose.
Actually, they don't really hide this. They mention the date being a day prior in the dialogue in the first scene after it flashes back, and they also talk about the "real" first meeting when he goes to Lacuna. I don't think that was ever meant to be unclear.
And yes, I was really impressed with Carrey in the movie. Got me to take him alot more seriously. And I was also really impressed with the multilayeredness of the plot with the juggling of the "in the mind" plot and the real world happenings at the same time. Helped the movie's pacing alot.
metal = rude
I really want to see this, looks good. I'm kind of disappointed though because i didn't know it was Kaufman, and I've never liked any of his movies. I'll still check it out eventually.
It's considerably different from his other movies. Has the trademark "in-the-head" and trippy existential premise, but it's less of a comedy, not goofy, and much more emotionally effective. I think its his best script yet.
i drink it up!
Carrey was awesome in The Majestic too. He's more then just a comedic actor like Adam Sandler.
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