But the movie didn't just present the idea, it illustrated it in heartbreaking detail. You could understand how the protagonist gets to the point of deciding to erase his memories and--more importantly--feel the horror as the full realisation sinks in of what he'd done to himself. Our memories make us what we are and destroying them is a form of self-annihilation. This is well-illustrated in the reaction of Dunst's character when she discovers she's also undergone the same treatment.
I liked the complexities because they developed reasonably from the basic idea rather than feeling like a lot of tacked-on twists to keep me from getting bored at the 45-minute mark. At the end of the day, Groundhog Day is just a standard rom-com with a supernatural twist. Eternal Sunshine is a meditation on memory and loss that works at a much deeper level--or, at least it did for me. It's not a thriller, it's a philosophical film. Trouble is, we've been conditioned as moviegoers to expect the former even when we're promised the former.
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momijizukamori
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Date: 2007-07-30 05:20 pm (UTC)I liked the complexities because they developed reasonably from the basic idea rather than feeling like a lot of tacked-on twists to keep me from getting bored at the 45-minute mark. At the end of the day, Groundhog Day is just a standard rom-com with a supernatural twist. Eternal Sunshine is a meditation on memory and loss that works at a much deeper level--or, at least it did for me. It's not a thriller, it's a philosophical film. Trouble is, we've been conditioned as moviegoers to expect the former even when we're promised the former.