'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'

'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' is unlike any other film i have ever seen. It is a thing of beauty, a culmination of the work of numerous artistic geniuses, the craft and emotional laden words in Charlie Kaufman's screenplay, the surrealistic cinematography and entirely unique visual look in the shape of Michel Gondry, as the auteur at the helm, and, of course, Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as the two leads, Joel Barisch and Clementine Kruczynski (KRA-ZINCH-SKI), both going against their typical roles and crafting two utterly belivable, empathetic, humanistic and fallable characters as you are ever likely to see in any film.

This is unlike any other film that I have reviewed for this blog in that I am watching this film for about the fifth or sixth time, and am reviewing it accordingly. This is one of my favourite films ever made, possibly breaching the prestigous top three, and i think alot of that has to do with the complexity and multi-layering present within the film, much of which originated from Kaufman's pen, a man that is renowned for his nigh on perfect scripts that contain such of the man's intelligence and emotion and surrealism that it doesn't take much craftmanship to bring them directly to the screen, they are so alive and vibrant upon the page. Of course when this is teamed with the winning team of Gondry, Carrey and Winslet, the magic of Kaufman is only enhanced, which i feel may explain why 'Eternal Sunshine' is the most critically and commercially acclaimed of Kaufman's films. Although, despite my seemingly geeky enfatuation with Kaufman here I have not enjoyed his other works that much, despite appreciating his craft, i found 'Being John Malkovich' to just be odd, rather directionless and with no real protagonist to root for. I feel by grounding 'Eternal Sunshine's' more science fiction-y elements with what is a very true and honest love story is what makes it work so wonderfully.

The sensibilities of both writer and director ensure that this film is unlike any romantic comedy you have ever seen. There is a stationary medium shot about twelve minutes into the film, after Joel and Clementine meet for the 'first' time that epitomises the gorgeousness of this film, as our protagonist walks away from Clem's apartment, buoyed up by his budding romantic feelings, a slight snow fall beginning to gently patter the pavement, a soft and incredibly sweet song playing in the background. The music carries us through into the next scene as Joel calls Clementine, softly speaking into the phone, nervously, a genuine smile of happiness crossing his face, and it is just beautiful. Those few minutes just portray romance to me. The mastery of Kaufman and Gondry manage to present the wonderful feeling of love in just a few short minutes of film and that is what instantly hooks you, emotionally, as an audience member to the fate of these characters.

As I said before though, the film is brutally honest about romance and following the opening sequence (which culminates in the heart wrenching title sequence appearing eighteen (!) minutes into the film) Kaufman and gondry proceed to deconstruct the romance between the two main characters, taking us through their painful descent into heart ache, to the point where the impulsive Clementine decides to have Joel erased from her memory, an action that propels the film forward, as we find ourselves taken through the many memories shared between the couple, both good and bad, all bringing us closer to the characters, Joel in particular for me, and all presenting love in a fashion that you would never see in mainstream cinema. I cannot think of any other film, or play, or piece of literature that presents love in such a way that generates such a strong emotional reaction from me and actually shows you how painful and how fantastic it can be. Carrey and Winslet's performances have alot to do with this, having a natural chemistry that without, would have ensured the failure of the film. Carrey's opening voice over made me fall in love with this film almost instantly, as he just sounds so lost and so empty, quietly mumbling his thoughts, which all say so much about his state of mind when not with Clementine, my favourite being;
'Sand is overrated. It's just tiny little rocks.'

I feel like anything I write within this review could not possibly do the film justice, as it is itself such a beautiful marriage of language, visuals and sound that mere words could not recreate the profound effect that it has on me, every time that I watch it. This is a reminder of why I love films and find the medium so fascinating which, contrasted with 'Inglorious Basterds' which i said very similar things about, shows the wide spectrum of the possibilites of cinema and how magic can be crafted in very different ways. I perhaps should have reviewed this later on, getting a few poorly made films between this and the review below so I don't look like I am distributing the high class of five stars too frequently but, this is one of my favourite films and so it is receiving FIVE STARS OUT OF FIVE. If you haven't seen this film already and class yourself as a lover of cinema then i urge you to do so, and if you haven't got a tear in your eye at at least one point within 'Eternal Sunshine', then you must have a heart of stone.

'Inglorious Basterds'

'Inglorious Basterds' was a film that immediately presented me with two discernable problems. The first was one that, i imagine, was shared by a legion of cinema lovers and followers of Tarantino's work and that was;

1. Was this going to be Tarantino's return to form? Or was it to be his next step along a short path to ineptitude and unoriginality, the first step of which was taken with his previous directorial effort 'Death Proof', a film that felt over indulgent in it's dialogue and characters that were lacking in depth. This was something that worried me as a lover of Tarantino's previous works and as an admirer in the fact that someone who loves the medium of film so much can make such a huge impact upon the business and isn't just a deluded geek. (Just a geek.)




2. My second problem was one that was probably adopted by the more anxious of the general public and that was, when i get to the ticket booth, how do i pronounce the title of the film? Do i put on a slight German accent and read as pronounced, 'BASTERDS', inducing a nervous chuckle within myself and a filthy look from the underpaid, overworked cashier operator? Or just give it my best British accent, cockneying it up, 'Yeah, one for the bastards one, please. Cheers Mate'.

Thankfully, my worries were quickly put to rest. I adopted for the typical 'BASTARDS' at the box office and upon entering the cinema were plunged into a typical and instantly classic Tarantino lengthy dialogue scene. I was captivated instantly as, not only were Tarantino's auteur trademarks present, his style had advanced, the camera work seeming much more fluid, flowing more regularly than the set camera style that people love about his work, and is presented in it's purest (and arguably, amateurish status) in 'Reservoir'. However, it was not just the camerawork and the fantastic dialogue that impressed me within this opening scene (Or chapter, as the film presents the different sections of the narrative, using a classic white text on black card to differentiate each and bringing in Tarantino's trademark postmodernistic sensibilities) it was also the performances.

The two actors, neither of whom i was aware of prior to this, both being European actors, were incredible in the opening scene adding a powerful emotional punch to the dialogue and layering the scene beyond a simple good versus bad guy scenario. Hans, the nazi commanding officer, affectionatly dubbed the 'Jew hunter', is charming and his intentions aren't entirely clear from the offset as the farmer is a character who we feel we can trust and should be the hero and yet, when he subverts our expectations, my sympathies still lay with him as he was truly empathetic in his actions and still had heroic qualities in his submission to the Nazi. The performances only got better from here on out, making it difficult to pin point a particular actor for their craft, although Brad Pitt as Lieutenant Aldo Raine was, predicatably, entertaining, although due to the ensemble nature of this film, Pitt is as much the main character as newcomer, melanie Laurent, who portrays the Jewish girl with a love for film and a hatred for Nazis, Shosanna Dreyfuss, or Christoph Waltz, who plays the manipulative and sadistic 'Jew hunter'.

The film has tongue firmly in cheek the entire way through, Tarantino not looking to pay homage to and tell a true to life war story, but rather to tell a good war film story. A fun and violent romp through 1940's Nazi occupied France, with an extreme group of soldiers who have a very black and white view of the war and seem to remedy those that they see as the bad guys in a swift and violent fashion;

'All of you men owe me one hundred Nazi scalps. And i want my Nazi scalps.'

But despite this, 'Inglorious Basterds' remains Tarantino's most mature film to date, juggling almost a dozen main characters, a number of different plot threads that eventually intertwine in ways I wasn't expecting and following true harrowing moments that hearken to the horrors of the war with extreme and, often comical, violence. As stated previously, Tarantino's camera work has improved and evolved with this outing, as has his dialogue which is far more mature than his previous films, not finding it necessary to include a 'fuck' or a derogatory racist term in every other sentence, whilst still maintaning its impact and classic Tarantino charm.

The Basterd's black and white view of the war is something else that adds another interesting layer to the film, one which i wonder if Tarantino intended, as i noticed, observing the audience's reaction in my screening, that once Pitt and his group of Nazi killers are introduced the audience are very much sided with them to the point where they were laughing heavily at a scene which saw an infamous member of the group (Infamous to the Nazi soldiers, that is), dubbed 'The bear Jew', smash in the skull of a Nazi officer with a baseball bat, in a horrific fashion. Laughs were also elicited as Pitt's Raine takes his knife to one of the Nazi soldier's foreheads, offering up a quip as he does so. However, the audience was very much against the Nazis from the get go, in particular when the Basterds first appear, often staring in shock at the violence utilised by them, which is really, no worse than that used by the Americans. This thematic point ties into a point brought up in the first scene of the film by Hans, 'The Jew Hunter', as he compares the Jews to rats, offering up the idea that;

'You would greet a rat with hostility. You don't know why you would do this. You simply would.'

(Paraphrased. Apologies. I didn't take a notebook again.)

I feel that this idea can be applied to the film as a whole, as an interesting added layer of subtext, but it could just as easily be said that the reason the Nazis are portrayed as bad guys is that Tarantino is paying homage to the propoganda like war films of the fifties and sixties, where of course the Nazis were the villians. Americans are the heroes, after all.

This film has a feel good factor that cannot be described without seeing this masterful piece of work, having the audience punching their fist in the air throughout, laughing, wincing and crying, carrying you deftly through the emotional spectrum whilst providing you with a great escapist story. This is the sort of film that reminds me what it is I love so much about film as a medium and it's potential and also how much I am inspired by, and adore, the works of Tarantino, so much so, that the moment I got back from the cinema I decided to rewatch his backcatalogue. (Excluding Deathproof.) For that reason alone i am awarding the film an unprecedented FIVE out of FIVE STARS, and urge you to go and see 'Inglorious Basterds' as soon as is humanly possible. Congratulations, Mr Tarantino. It's good to have you back.