Movie Talk : Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Last night we finally watched (and I say finally because the movie is a few years old) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and we absolutely loved it. As far as we are concerned, Charlie Kaufman is a genius. Since we saw Adaptation and were stunned by it we were waiting to see another of his movies (Being John Malkovich is on our list, but for one reason or another we haven't seen it yet).

The idea of creating a "science fiction" plot in order to highlight the fragility, complexity, and the problems of a romantic relationship is extremely original (and I want to acknowledge that I'm "borrowing" some of my husband's ideas about the movie) -- how else could a couple plausibly voice such hurtful, destructive things about each other in a "romantic comedy"? And the fragmentary way the film is constructed is just awesome, at certain points we feel completely lost, but then certain words, such as "Montauk" make us realize the connections. The special effects are intriguing, particularly because most of them were done "visually" (or analogically - vs. digitally?) while filming, not on a computer afterwards. I also like the fact that most of the movie is set in the cold month of February and I love the scenes at the beach (how often do we get to see beaches in Winter time?), on frozen lakes/ rivers, and with snow. The artwork created by the main character was also very interesting.

Another reason why it was kind of "fitting" to see this film now is that last week I spent several evenings re-reading diaries from 17-18 years ago, in the events that took place in the 8 months before I met my husband, so this whole thing with déjà vu feelings is quite fresh in my mind from digging up in old journals. But this subject would be a whole other post. As for the film, it may not fit many people's tastes, but it definitely fit ours (and we're quite picky)!

P.S. Other movies that we saw in the last few months and that I loved (right now we're getting only two films a month on Netflix because we hardly have time to watch them) were:
- The Queen - I really enjoyed this one, particularly because it was about fairly recent events (only 10 years ago) and contemporary figures. Helen Mirren totally deserved the Oscar, I think.
- Behind the Sun /Abril Despedaçado- a Brazilian movie inspired by a novel byIsmail Kadare. Beautiful and sad.
- Frida - I was always fascinated by Frida Kahlo, but not particularly interested in Mexico and Mexican art and culture, but now I'm much more interested;
- Luther - I really had no idea that the reformation had caused so much bloodshed and I had to go read and learn more about it.

As you can see, I often enjoy movies about real events more than purely fictional ones...