Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
It must be a fault in me.
There are some wonderful actors that do not move me: Jim Carrey is one of them. I recognize his talent - some call it genius - but when I watch his films, even films I acknowledge to be great films - The Truman Show being the most notable example - I always walk away feeling like I've been teased by a journey that should have been soulfully rich, but just isn't. As Jeffrey Overstreet says in his review, this is Carrey's most mature performance - nothing over the top here - but still, in the end, he doesn't pull me into the heart of the journey.
Like I said, it must be a fault in me.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a film I've really wanted to see, and last night it was the video pick to replace Friday Night Lights, which we couldn't see because the times at the theatres didn't fit family happenings. (Why am I having such trouble seeing this stupid football movie?) The work of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind continues his ongoing exploration of the human psyche, focusing this time on the nature of memory and what it means for us as human beings. In the review cited above, Mr. Overstreet muses about what he would erase and keep from his memory were he given the opportunity; for me, it made me thankful for the good and the bad, knowing that it all makes us who we are, and that love happens in the context of the worst of it. (Would you want to hear a audio tape of what people secretly think of you?)
But then, the whole enterprise of memory erasure stands as a strong metaphor to what we do to ourselves anyway, repressing and suppressing, refusing to see the full nature of what's really in front of us. (Or behind us, as the case may be.)
Recently, I read about the coming use of cosmetic drugs some researchers believe will be commonplace; mood altering, skill altering chemical enhancements tailor-made for your particular passion of the moment. Movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind help me understand why such a notion makes me nervous. A telling moment in the film is when Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson), the doctor behind this practice of memory erasure, answers Joel Barish's (Carrey) fear of brain damage by saying, "Technically speaking, it is brain damage." What he doesn't say, but that the film makes explicitly clear, is that such a notion is soul damage as well.
It's a lesson God's been trying to teach us humans for centuries: to remember is a gift.
6:25:48 AM
