Intriguing, thoughtful film

Rating: 9/10 (4 May 2004)

This is an interesting film that in the context of a story about love and loss is able to comment on the psychology of memory, relationships and identity. While perhaps not immediately thought of as a Science Fiction movie, the writer and director are able to derive a technique from that genre and successfully weave film-making and storytelling techniques in a fashion to allow the audience a clear perspective of the queer workings of the characters' memories as they fade. The dream-like, stream of conscious feeling the film creates provides the viewer with an almost hypnotic suspension of belief. Unlike moments in screenwriter Kaufman's earlier works where his unique storytelling devices can feel like tricks for the sake of being clever, his manipulation becomes integral to the story's telling and enables the film and the audience a view on the challenges of memory and our own tenuous relationship with it. Considering the screenwriter's previous work in Adaptation, where he places himself in the film as a character and voices various philosophical criticisms about the process of writing and producing satisfying films in modern Hollywood, I can't help but think that he's overcome some of his own challenges in creating a well-told "love story" without resorting to clique.