I suddenly felt moved to write a film review:
I’ve only seen this once – and I didn’t really start to enjoy it until half way through when I sussed what the hell was going on (and partly because I was watching it with someone who didn’t like it) – but the more I reflect upon this, the more I think it was not just the best film of last year but possibly the best film I’ve ever seen (and before you ask, yes, I do include Police Academy IV - Citizens on Patrol in that). My justification is the fact that it was both unique in style and – eventually – coherent. It’s easy enough to for any leftfield director to produce a psychedelic-inspired work that contains some great ideas or images but lacks a comprehensible or well thought-out storyline, e.g. 2001, Kill Bill, Yellow Submarine, the two Matrix sequels. To me these are enjoyable movies but are the celluloid equivalent of a David Bowie lyric, i.e. style without substance. In the case of Eternal Sunshine we have an astonishing-looking film that rewards the attention of the viewer rather than just making them feel spaced-out. It has plenty of “wow!” moments (pretty much all the time in fact) but holds together well as a really clever adventure and a touching, non-sugary romance. The fact that it was directed by someone whose previous work was mostly pop videos is all the more impressive, although when you realise that they’re the best videos of the last decade (The Chemical Brothers’ Star Guitar and Let Forever Be, Kylie’s Come Into My World and half of Bjorks’ and The White Stripes’ promos) it’s less surprising.
The only reason I haven’t bought the DVD yet is because I’m waiting for the special edition to come out at the end of this month but I already have The Work Of Director Michel Gondry DVD (which contains all the above videos) and recommend that to anyone too.
I feel better now.
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