Valentine Memories

Rating: 10/10 (21 February 2011)

"memories. of the way we were", isn't that what BaBa Streisand always caterwauled and screeched about? memories are what we are made of. they make us who we are in the present.
often memories can be painful and hard to live with and we would just like to forget about them and move on. i have lots of great, happy memories, but i have more than my share of memories where there can be no closure and i would just like to erase them so i can live my life to the fullest. but then again those painful memories have taught me that life is difficult and they've taught me what to be careful of and what works for me and what doesn't. i guess even the painful memories are often good for something as well.
tell that to the jerks at Lacuna who like to meddle in people's fate and hearts and play God. i guess my problem with Lacuna is that they make it too easy. without the bad you can't learn about the good.
'Eternal Sunshine' is probably one of my all time favorite love stories along with 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Lady and the Tramp'. i know with all the great love stories written throughout current and classical history that's quite a claim.
i don't think it's a shallow or superficially trendy claim either. this is a extraordinarily deep and moving emotional experience, and for me personally, a film that holds a very special place in my heart. if you had been through as many painful break ups as i have, you might feel the same way.
not only is this film very deep, it's beautifully crafted and well made. Michel Gondry is simply one of my favorite contemporary filmmakers. not only is Gondry a total fantast of the imagination, he is a very sensitive and feeling film director. nobody in this day and age is as original with film effects and photography as Gondry. not even that weenie Tim Burton,who is one of cinema's greatest and most accomplished fantast, is as original as Gondry is with effects.
Gondry has also assembled some of the finest performances of the decade. strangely, with all his enormous popularity and fame as a celebrity, Jim Carrey is a somewhat underrated actor. he's given some of the very best performances of recent times in outstanding films like 'Truman Show', 'Man in the Moon', 'Liar Liar' and of course, 'Eternal Sunshine', and yet it doesn't even seem like he's even been considered for Hollywood's most prestigious award, the Oscar. go figure. for a supposedly informed academy, the Academy Awards ALWAYS does stuff like that. that's why i think i prefer the Cannes film festival.
the rest of the cast is equally outstanding. Winslet is her usually accomplished self, Wilkinson gives another thoughtful performance, and Kirsten Dunst is incredible and should have been considered for a supporting award her work here.
the screenplay by Charles Kaufman and Gondry is heartfelt and sentimental without ever seeming corny or full of clichés. if anything, clichéd is something 'Eternal Sunshine' is definitely not.
if you're in love, or just in a relationship, you should watch this film thoughtfully and give it some contemplation. i guarantee if you open your mind to it you will learn and grow through it's experience.
perspectives of love and relationships rarely get any better than this. cinema rarely gets better than this. this film is perfect and a "eternal" joy to behold.