Satan's Luau

The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind REVIEW: YMMV

It's a concept that reminds of the late night revisioning of the Outer Limits -- what if science could erase memories that cause you present day pain -- in particular, what if it could remove the memories of a past lover so that you had no breakup pain -- sounds almost humanistic, doesn't it?

If this film is viewed as a morality play, it really is a wonderful film -- I think that it is very much TOO COOL for the room (in other words, it won't have mass appeal), and your viewing mileage versus my viewing mileage versus person X's viewing mileage will vary greatly -- this film is in many respects brilliant, in many respects frustratingly unwatchable at times, and yet will suck you in to the emotional performances by Jim Carrey, Kate Winslett, and Kirsten Dunst

The power of the movie is if it makes you self-question the role of memories in your own life, and openly question whether pain and happiness are the juice of life OR do they strip life of value to the point where you want it all to end

In the middle of this complexity is a quite simply played out love story that we get in sequences, chopped up like memories -- actually interestingly played out like SELECTIVE MEMORY -- that is very interesting to me, now that I think about it

When are our memories real, when are they unreal -- when is our mind justifying, when are our memories true to what happened -- ok, so it's sounding like it would be interesting only to the behavioral health professional crowd -- it's not really there yet it's hard to put in words

I have heard this movie compared to Lost in Translation -- but it's not boring, to me at least -- I think it takes a different tack than LIT -- it focuses in on the emotional realities of a love relationship (and even a sex relationship) -- it also focuses in on the vibrance of life, the deadening of life, and the power of memory to put things in appropriate context

For example, if you forgot how your car was damaged, and found it damaged the next morning, what would you think caused it? (Yeah, and what if a tree fell in the woods with no one there, would it make a sound? HAHAHAHA) -- yeah, this movie can play with your mind if you let it

If you stay on the surface of the movie, there is a charming quality of its portrayal of how awkward our lives are, and in particular how awkward our feelings are when we are in a love relationship -- or even when we first start getting feelings about someone

My warning to all is this: If you are expecting a goofy Jim Carrey, there are many of his movies at BB -- this one he plays very very straight -- almost like Adam Sandler in PDL -- Kate Winslett is really really great in this movie -- and Kirsten Dunst plays a very awkward role (in a subplot) and carries if off really well -- oh yeah and boy Frodo (E. Wood) is in this one, but I didn't find his performance to be anything to really go wow over

This is a really odd film -- I don't think many will like it, but at the end of the day, I think all who see it will respect it -- that's so weird (what I just said) -- you'll catch on if you see it -- you may hate it if you see it too, or feel terribly terribly LOST -- and it employs the non-linear time context that we has been very popular (eg. Memento, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill) -- time flows all over the place, not necessary forward or backward

I can tell you the core premise -- you may wonder after seeing it if it truly is the core premise -- Winslett's character has decided to erase her memories of her relationship to Carrey's character. Carrey meets up with her later and finds that she doesn't remember him. Oops, someone lets slip that Winslett's character has gotten the eraser procedure. Carrey then goes himself to get his memories of her erased. Carrey is halfway through his erasure of all memories with Winslett and realizes he goofed -- he still wants to remember the good times. Then it becomes a complex stand to hold onto the love, or last flickers of memories of love, he had with her even if it means pain -- Even after telling you this, you are probably no better off, because the movie has many many layers and aspects to it, you just got the Luau Notes version

So what I am saying is, you may hold this movie at a distance from you -- or embrace it instantly as if you can totally relate -- whatever it is, I really believe YMMV on this movie, and I can't really put a grade to it -- but it is truly a human film -- and one that I would encourage you to watch, though I fear you may all hate me for it afterwards

PS the soundtrack is FANTASTIC!