Monday, March 30, 2009

Trailer of the Week: Remembering My Favorite Film of the '00s (thus far)

With only eight months left in the decade, pretty soon the usual suspects will begin compiling their list of the 00's best films (have we decided what we are calling this decade yet? The aughts?).  Without too much thought given to the subject, I'd nominate Michel Gondry Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind off the top of my head, which coincidentally just celebrated it's fifth anniversary on March 19th (in related news: I feel old). 

Whether you find the conclusion of the film as a triumph of love or a cynical assertion that these two characters are doomed to a self-perpetual cycle of co-dependence (something hinted at in an excised denouement in Charlie Kaufman's script that didn't make the final film), or hell, both, is really besides the point, the essential message I take is something much simpler: keep the bad memories, because they are just as essential a component of our lives as the happy ones. 

I saw Eternal Sunshine at a particularly poignant moment in my life: a few months after a long, and similarly doomed cyclical relationship had finally come to it's end. While painful at the time, the film helped me in some small way to appreciate the moments I had with that person and I met my wife within 10 months of catching it opening day (celebrity sighting/gossip: I had a conversation with Sarah Silverman and her sister who were companions of one of the friends I saw the film with on the merits of Michel Gondry's work after the showing, and it was refreshing to see the usually sardonic comedienne notably touched by it's artistry). 

Here is the film's equally brilliant trailer which opens as a commercial for the Lucana corporation before morphing into a dialogue light quick montage of moments from the film set to ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky". From the first time I saw the trailer theatrically in the fall of 2003, I knew the film would be special, although I could not foresee the particular connection that I would, and still, have to it. 




3 comments:

Mummbles said...

yes great movie! the trailer made me download that ELO song too. I watched the movie a few months ago and it was just as good.

HH said...

kevin, i can't believe it has taken me this long to comment on your blog.

anyway, i love this film too. and michel gondry...i love his "the work of..." videos and little other short films/featurettes that art part of it. oh and i'm pretty sure that his girlfriend at the time, who was in one of the features, was a girl i used to hang out with in college. when i saw her i was like "whoa!" but was totally not shocked that she might end up with someone like michel gondry.

frenchie and i met around the time this film came out and i think it was the 2nd movie date we had. what was the first? "lost in translation" uh...HAHA! anyway, so it too has a special significance in my life.

soon after, we saw michel gondry at a persephone's bees show at spaceland. (did i tell you this story already?) i was, of course, star struck...and well, pierre was a little drunk and unusually extroverted for him...i won't embarrass him publicly with the story here, but remind me to tell you the next time we all hang out. it's a goodie.

victoria said...

I thought you would have gone with Mulholland Drive.
I love this movie as well, but my faves of the '00s thus far are wonder boys and (tie) you can count on me.

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