Friday, August 27, 2010

Constantly talking isn't necessarily communicating - Joel in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind


10 minutes into ‘Inception’ , the first wisp of violence and I was ready to puke my guts out.
I mean what is it with movie-makers today, are they afraid to invest into something that does not pop out a gun every 10 seconds or do they think that a guy missing his long dead wife and 2 kids can masquarade as some existential angst???
Really, I fail to understand and I think it is not even worth trying to.

Which brings a flash of another flick of the same genre, sci-fi, if I may?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind sounds like a tongue twister title, but it does provide an interesting tale of a new invention - erasing memories of someone you want to forget.

Clementine and Joel have a sense of déjà vu when they first meet, because this really is not their first meeting. We get a peek into their relationship as we traverse through Joel’s memories. Joel tries to take vengeance on Clementine after realizing that she had memories of him erased, but while in the process of erasing his memories of her, he changes his mind.
We meander through memories filled with wonderful conversation, wise cracks and interesting anecdotes. Of course, I am way more partial to it because of the special mention of Anna Akmatova, whose poetry, am a big fan of.

CLEMENTINE : Have you ever read any Anna Akhmatova?
JOEL ; I love her.
CLEMENTINE : Really? Me, too! I don't meet people who even know who she is and I work in a book store. (Really!!! )

You wouldn’t recognize Jim Carrey, as the extreme introvert, Joel who is drastically opposite of, i-wear-my-heart-on-my-sleeve, Clementine, played by Kate Winslet.

Among other things, this is a story about how two people diametrically opposite try to disillusion themselves about a relationship going awry. Even the peripheral characters add so much soul into the bigger picture, that you come away feeling a little fascinated and at the same time very vulnerable as if someone has stirred the old soft core inside you that you have forgotten.