Sunshine came softly to my theater today
Just got back from seeing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I'm wondering if a slightly wacky, slightly surreal romantic comedy is supposed to leave you with persistent goosebumps? I expected Adapting John Malkovich, yet I still got hit fiendishly hard by the manic, Kaufman-twisted subplot, which I won't spoil here for those yet to see it.

I will assume you know the basic premise of the movie (it's been relentlessly advertised). Consider that we all probably have candidates in our own minds for the Lacuna procedure. You'll be thinking about those lost loves as you watch this movie. And, if you're like me, you'll still be thinking about them later, which is when this movie will haunt you.

Predictably, Sunshine has left me mulling over idealized memories of my own days gone by. The exertions of time and distance are probably as effective in depersonalizing those memories as any theoretical brain alteration might be. I don't think often about the women I've parted ways with anymore, nor can I say I really miss them. But the charged energy, the emotionality they evoked within me once upon a time... that's the stuff that lingers. It's the stuff that attracted me to those relationships in the first place.

But, unless you're Nietzsche, you don't cherish pain as much as you do pleasure. So naturally, you want to forget what hurt you and get back to the good stuff. In the movie, it's implied that if zapping your PRAM of those convolutions could be reduced to a simple outpatient procedure, you'd wait in line for it like Red Sox fans waiting for World Series tickets. Never mind that's borne of the same impulsiveness that got you in trouble to begin with!

I've lately been contemplating a return to love, giving myself permission to grant that description to a concatenation of thoughts, feelings and desires centered on someone important to me. So I had additional vulnerability to the message subsumed in this movie, and might have opted for The Fog Of War instead, had I known. I can't really explain myself without spoilerating the movie. Let me just suggest you don't take someone on a first date to see it, and you can perhaps grab your clue from that advice.

Like love itself, Sunshine made me laugh, then it made me cry. And yet I want to do it again. The final scenes were weak, but I get the feeling I might have missed something. Going in there again, I'll watch for clues that might help me understand those disappointing moments as they come up, and hopefully come out with a more satisfying experience. That goes for the movie as well. 5:11:45 PM    comment []trackback []