6.05.2004
why i agree about eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
(i'm back, by the way... the computer is hooked up and all...)
since everyone is already raving about the movie, for a million reasons, i'll just mention a few that effected me specifically...
* the way the special effects seem not only appropriate-- but also neccessary-- to the structure of the film itself. all the tricks i'm so used to dismissing as a bunch of MTV bullshit are so perfectly suited to this film that you can almost lose yourself within them. it takes precisely the sort of watered-down, laptop surrealism that pollutes nearly everything released to a mainstream audience, and somehow finds a proper place for it. much of the film's relevance is within the CGI, rather than in spite of it.
* not only the fact that jim carrey didn't annoy the hell out of me, but also the fact that carrey and winslet made such a convincing couple. and (again) the way the editing becomes an amazing photo album of clipped, quasi-improvisational everyday moments. i'm usually a little suspicious of things that expect me to identify with the situation directly (i.e. remembering "how that happened to me", etc.), but here the bits that inevitably overlapped with my own life had a contemplative, rather than crassly sentimental, effect on me.
* apologies to my sister, who has read something similiar in her comments page, but i must stress the way this film makes me happy to have made mistakes. corny enough, i suppose... but it's certainly not a sentiment you find much in a mainstream film, or for that matter anywhere.
since everyone is already raving about the movie, for a million reasons, i'll just mention a few that effected me specifically...
* the way the special effects seem not only appropriate-- but also neccessary-- to the structure of the film itself. all the tricks i'm so used to dismissing as a bunch of MTV bullshit are so perfectly suited to this film that you can almost lose yourself within them. it takes precisely the sort of watered-down, laptop surrealism that pollutes nearly everything released to a mainstream audience, and somehow finds a proper place for it. much of the film's relevance is within the CGI, rather than in spite of it.
* not only the fact that jim carrey didn't annoy the hell out of me, but also the fact that carrey and winslet made such a convincing couple. and (again) the way the editing becomes an amazing photo album of clipped, quasi-improvisational everyday moments. i'm usually a little suspicious of things that expect me to identify with the situation directly (i.e. remembering "how that happened to me", etc.), but here the bits that inevitably overlapped with my own life had a contemplative, rather than crassly sentimental, effect on me.
* apologies to my sister, who has read something similiar in her comments page, but i must stress the way this film makes me happy to have made mistakes. corny enough, i suppose... but it's certainly not a sentiment you find much in a mainstream film, or for that matter anywhere.
