Inward bound: It's a Mystery to Me

Rating: 6/10 (17 April 2005)

In mysteries like Eternal Sunshine, The Matrix, Mulholland Dr., the mystery isn't only who-really-dunit, but also who's real; the mystery isn't the "story" but how the story was portrayed (is all or part a dream, a vision, a memory, a program). Some of these stories move dangerously close to the childish "it was all a dream" resolution. Eternal Sunshine doesn't do that, but we have to deal with (I think): what he's really seeing, what he's imagining, what he's forgetting, what he's thinking while forgetting, what's happening to him while he's forgetting, what's happening to others, what happens after the forgetting. And it's not obvious which is which, or when. Maybe the point is that thinking something can make it so. I guess anything is OK, as long as it's entertaining.