At the beginning of this year, I resolved to see no more than two movies in the theater for 2010. I made the new year's resolution on something of a whim, wanting to spend less time and money on mainstream and passive entertainment. So far I'm on track to meet my goal; yesterday I saw, with Laura, my first in-theater movie for the year, Toy Story 3, which I suppose qualifies as an if-you-see-only-one-movie-this-year kind of movie.
However, I haven't made a similar cut in my video-movie watching habit. On the walk back to my apartment from the movie theater yesterday, I suggested to Laura that we stop at the leasing office to see if they had available any movies we'd like to watch. After perusing the DVD-case spines for a few minutes, Laura suggested Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. We'd both seen seen it already, though separately, and after listening to me rave about the movie several times—I'm told that I'm likely to repeat myself about a great many things—Laura figured it would be interesting to watch it together. And maybe we will.
Eternal Sunshine is one of my favorite movies of all-time, and I can tell you the exact reason for this. I think the movie captures a mood and meaning that is difficult to capture on screen: acceptance. For those of you who haven't seen the movie or otherwise don't remember, Eternal Sunshine is about a guy in his mid-30s named Joel, played by Jim Carrey, who elects to have erased his memory of his recently ended romantic relationship with girlfriend Clementine by using a new medical procedure. A good chunk of the movie takes place within Joel's mind and acts out the memories that are being erased, thus showing us Joel's and Clementine's relationship with each other. As the movie progresses, Joel realizes that despite the pain he feels from the relationship and its breakup, he doesn't want to lose his memory of it and her after all. Though unconscious during the procedure, he resists the memory-erasure but ultimately finds no way to stop it. Eventually, he comes to accept the looming loss of his memory, enjoying for the last time his remaining, fleeting memories of Clementine before they are gone forever.
Death happens a lot in film. The average lifespan for movie characters measures probably in mere hours or days. With such an abundance of death, it takes small quantities to heighten the poignancy of it. In the case of Eternal Sunshine, it's a mini-death of two years' worth of romantic memories erased. Yet it's sharp, this collision between tragic and irrevocable. And between the two is the human condition of acceptance.
5 comments:
I like the movie, too, and have seen it with Josh twice. I have to admit, I got more confused instead of less the second time I watched it (I expected the time-line issues to make more sense in my mind). I think it's intriguing and bittersweet.
I don't know why, but I'm not a big movie-in-the-theater person. I have not seen one yet in 2010, don't really have a hankering to do so (of course, I have 4 significant impediments).
I thought you might be proud--I've sworn off soda. I've cheated only twice in 2010 and they tasted bad. Even the glass bottle, made with sugar (no high fructose corn syrup) Dr Pepper was a let-down. I think it may be safe to say I'm done with soda for life.
Lindsey— I figure part of what makes Eternal Sunshine work is that its confusing chronology of present versus past, forward versus reverse helps the viewer feel overwhelmed and brain damaged, much like protagonist Joel as he undergoes the memory-erasure procedure.
That's great news about quitting soda. I figure two things the typical American can do right now to bring about tangible health benefits are (1) quitting soda and (2) flossing at least once a day.
There's nothing redeeming about soda—even diet soda. Though, I've watched one coworker unsuccessfully try to quit the stuff for about a year or so now, and I suspect that sugar/sweetener are as tough or tougher to quit as most of the other usual bad habits. What made it work for you?
As for flossing, not having chronically infected gums leads to decreased odds of all sorts of systemic health problems, like dementia and diabetes. This is completely unrelated to your comment, but I like to plug a pro-flossing message whenever even remotely relevant.
1) Error: So far I'm on track to to meet my goal;
2) Bonus points for name-dropping me in your blog.
You're right about the confusion of chronology making the viewer able to sympathize with Joel.
Hi Laura! I've heard about you and am glad to get to "meet" you in at least this round-about way. :)
Craig, the kids were talking about you today (they overheard me mention this blog post to Josh). They said, "Oh, can you invite Craig over here again? I like him! And then we can go ride bikes with him!" I told them you were too fast for them, and my 7yo Leo said, "Well, I know, but we could ride in a line--him first, then me..."
Well, there you go. Little Leo is well on his way to riding the single pace line.
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