Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

If all of us can have part of our memory erased, would we want to forget all the bad ones? Most would say yes but maybe not after watching this movie. That is what this movie tries to drive at and it hits home real hard for those who had been through failed relationships before.

Clementine (Winslet) broke up with Joel (Carrey) and it was a pretty bad breakup . Shortly after, Clementine underwent a procedure to have all of her memories of Joel removed, and that means everything and everyone related to Joel, as that is the only way to totally forget about someone. (Now, forget about technicality for the sake of this movie. Erasing memory through surgery surely makes no sense and science fiction is not what this movie is about.) Joel was not supposed to find out about it but did so in the end. He was infuriated and decides to have it done as well, mainly to get even. However, as the procedure starts erasing the newer memories first and then goes backwards, it brings Joel back to the time when their relationship was still sweet. That was when he realised that it is worthwhile to keep them, even if he cannot choose which ones. Therefore while in the middle of the 'operation', he had second thoughts, hence the race to beat the 'eraser' in his subconscious mind.

From the storyline point of view, the idea of how sometimes things happened because they were meant to be really will leave you thinking long after the movie ended. Sometimes, no matter what you do, you cannot escape from your destiny. From a technical point of view, the thing that makes this movie so wonderfully enjoyable is the way it was arranged. It may be confusing to some (so if you are going to the movies for no brain activity, this is not for you) but it is not really that difficult to follow because continuity did not suffer at all despite it going back and forth.

Although the movie is mainly about the two of them, the other characters played by Dunts, Woods and Ruffalo, are just as important even though they seems to have a minor role. As the movie progresses, everyone falls in place nicely. You get that when a movie is paced appropriately.

This is no comedy, although they are some comedic moments that will crack you up real good. The promo for this picture was a gimmick, which I really do not understand why the need to do that in the first place. Just because Carrey was in it?

Acting is top notch. Pick a character to relate to and you can easily feel for them, their happiness, sadness and disappointments. You will find the dialogs worth paying attention to.

The movie can be slow at times and with the picture quality intended as it is, it may be tiring but it was worth it.

Stranger Than Fiction

If you know how, when and why you are dying, would you simply accept it as your fate or would you find ways to cheat your death? There are two parts in this movie alternated back and forth and they are related.

Harold Crick (Ferrell) is a lonely single IRS agent who goes about his life in the most systematic way you could imagine. He wakes up on time and catches the right bus to work every morning, thanks to his cool wrist watch. He is also all about numbers, from how many stroke of the toothbrush right to how many steps to the bus stop. Ask him a mathematical sum and he'll give you the answer within seconds.

One day he heard a woman's voice, narrating what he is actually doing. He tried to brush it off as his imagination but as the narration was totally spot on in accurately describing his life, he knew it was more than that. When he heard a line mentioning his imminent death, he simply could not leave it to chance and seeks the assistance of Professor Jules Hilbert (Hoffman), a professor in literature. Meanwhile, Harold also met and fell for Ana Pascal (Gyllenhaal) during a case he was auditing. From the narration, he also knew that Ana actually do have a heart for him too. As his life turned for the better with a new found love, he refuse to submit to his so called 'fate' and decides to find a way to cheat his own death.

In the other part of the story, we were introduced to Kay Eiffel (Thompson), an author who is having a writer's block and her new assistant, Penny Escher (Latifah). Penny was sent by the publisher to help Eiffel finish her new book. Eiffel was having problem finishing the last part of her book and that is on how to kill off the main character, as with all her previous books.

In between, we were shown the life of a boy with a new bicycle and a woman who found a new job. We were left clueless as to who they were or how this two character fit in this already weird movie.

Ferrell in my opinion, although not bad overall, was not the best actor for the character of Harold. I don't find myself feeling sorry for him. Hoffman was wacky, as he was in most of his other movies that you get tired of. Latifah was practically not important at all. Gyllenhaal was charming as Ana, a girl anyone would fall for. The star of the show however definitely has to be Thompson, who played a writer driven crazy, just like anyone under pressure.

I personally love this movie because this is the kind of movie that an aspiring movie maker can attempt without a huge Hollywood budget. The idea itself is intriguing enough to come out with a storyline that can fit a standard movie length time. I also love how everyone is finally related somehow or another with many clues scattered throughout the movie, if you bother to look out for it. Finally, it is just unique, fresh and pretty weird. Forget about reality for once and delve yourself into the whatifs. Won't life be boring if no one ever what give a thought to 'What if...?'. Creativity would be dead.

Having said that, I actually do not like the ending. I can only guess that it is because this is Hollywood. I still recommend it though.