eternal sunshine de l'mind spotless..

[grand theft sparrow]

NO!!!










...yes...

[MacGuffin]

hacksparrow, you wear little girls socks?  

I bet he does, after stealing girls panties.

[grand theft sparrow]

hacksparrow, you wear little girls socks?  

I bet he does, after stealing girls panties.

What? They were clean.

[82]

Le Voyage en Ballon (Stowaway in the Sky)
(1960, dir: Albert Lamorisse, starring: André Gille, Pascal Lamorisse)
The first film I ever saw in my life is called Le Voyage en Ballon. It's a very simple story about a grandfather and his grandson traveling across France in a hot-air balloon. It's all shot on location with a system where they attached the basket of a balloon under a helicopter. It's mostly visual, but it's very pure. It's my first memory of watching movies, like falling in love with Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment or seeing Mary Poppins with her big feet flying and her umbrella, and every time I see it again, I'm never disappointed. I was obviously also intrigued by Georges Méliès. He was the first filmmaker to use the camera as an artifice. He wanted first to enhance his magic tricks with a camera, and most of his tricks are still used now in filmmaking. There's so much ingenuity you can find if you're trying to solve your problem in your own way. I learned to work this way because I bought myself a small 16mm film camera called a Bolex. You can rewind the film, you can double-expose the film, you can shoot frame-by-frame and slow motion, and I learned to tell my story by using my own devices.

My similar inspiration:
Le Ballon Rouge

[cowboykurtis]

i was disapointed by this film -- being a fan of charlie k, my expectations were much higher. with the posed subject( mind eraser, etc.), i felt it wasnt fully "realized" nor " utilized". they could have gone much further with the concept -- i thought the scene with jim carrey instituted into his childhood, was one of  the more inspired parst -- many of the scenes with "dream logic" were interseting, but quickly lost their novelty. the 2nd act dragged for this very reason. The development of the story could have been just as well suited in a 20 minute short film. i thought there was too much meddling without substance backing it up. meddling is fine but there has to be an interesting progression dramatically or stylistically. i think a film similar in function that is more successfrul is 8 1/2.

[Chest Rockwell]

Well it seems so far that you're alone in your opinion, cowboykurtis (not that I don't respect it). It seems you're the only one keeping yourself company with your double-post there.  

[Weird. Oh]

Loved it Loved it Loved it. It almost felt like I was in a drunken stooper afterwards. I couldn't even say anything about it I was so blown away.

-Loved the visual aspect of the film. Such a wide array of colors in every aspect. Clementine's Hair, Furnishings, in the rooms they traveled through. I think whatever category that falls under in the Oscars they should get a nominations definitely. Really loved everything visually in it.

-Acting all around was excellent. Winslet was great and the rest of the cast hit the right notes at the right time. I really indentified with Carrey's character and how he reacted to situations. It was interesting to see Dunst actually show a glimpse of talent in her roll.

-The score was beautiful.  

-Kate Winslet's crotch shot. Nothing needs to be said.

-Kaufman's realistic characters  and extremely down to earth dialogue. When you forget that these are really actors and not actual people I think you have done an excellent job.

Here are the very minute problems I had with it:
-The pace at one point was very frantic and just  visually stunning when they were going through Joel's memory wipe. I felt that the "science" aspect could have been downplayed a bit. I don't think there needed to be the focus on the cuts to the computer screen showing his brain and have Wilkenson's character come in and fix the program was kind of uneccessary I think. I guess what I'm trying to say is I kind of wish the movie had stayed in Joel's memories more rather than cutting to reality. I thought the most poignant portions of the film were inside his memories.

- The headgear Joel was wearing was a little over the top. Looked like something an old lady would wear while getting a perm.

-The placed advertsing. I saw a dorito's truck flash on the screen for a split second and a Chips Ahoy bag. That just annoys me.

-Did anyone else feel the plot was kind of haphasardly tied up with Dunst's character sending the tapes back to the people. I just thought it was forced a bit perhaps. Seems a bit predictable. Character involved in Act A. Act A affects character adversely. Character shows inhumanity in Act A. Just a thought...

These are just extremely minute details. I really loved this and like someone else said on the board I was already thinking about the dvd a minute after the film ending. 4 stars. 10/10. Great film. I want to see it again already.

[Alethia]

My similar inspiration:
Le Rouge Ballon

haha, i remember that movie

[cowboykurtis]

Well it seems so far that you're alone in your opinion, cowboykurtis (not that I don't respect it). It seems you're the only one keeping yourself company with your double-post there.  

yes

[mutinyco]

Yeah, I liked it. But I think I was respectfully critical where I saw areas that didn't work. I imagine it'll get better with repeat viewings. I still don't think it'll be a huge hit (at least not by Carrey standards).

[Pas]

I still don't think it'll be a huge hit (at least not by Carrey standards).

Wow that's an intelligent thing to say

[NEON MERCURY]

being a fan of charlie k, my expectations were much higher. with the posed subject( mind eraser, etc.), i felt it wasnt fully "realized" nor " utilized". they could have gone much further with the concept

.its a great film .....but i wanted more i guess... .....i just thought they could have done more w/ it ......but maybe that has something to do with the high expectations of this film.....

..thats  it cowboy...after a day or two thinking about it..the"they should have done more with it" aspect strikes as the biggest knock against this film...previously i said something about the dark look of the film..and now i feel that it doesn't really bother me....anmd a agree w/ other about the solid acting for everyone .....and i'm cool w/ the winslet hype..she deserves it......
but i still can't ignore the fact that while ewatching this film it kind of bored me in the way of "there should be more to it"..the subjest of the film warrants more exporation or something but it didn't offer it ..all in all its still a great film......its number 2 this year behind The Passion of the Christ.....

[pete]

saw it and loved it.  BUT.
I found Kate Winslett's character to be a bit corny.  It seems like guy screenwriters everywhere constantly struggle with how to write complex female characters so they always just settle for a lot of quirks.  Charlie Kaufman's guys can be quirky for very emotionally complex/ neurotic reasons, but his girls are always very single-minded: penis envy, boundless fascination with one man, or in this case, insecurity.
I think Woody Allen's like the only guy who knows how to write quirky ladies.
But that corniness didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, because the movie is way more about falling in love than about the girl anyways.

[grand theft sparrow]

saw it and loved it.  BUT.
I found Kate Winslett's character to be a bit corny.  It seems like guy screenwriters everywhere constantly struggle with how to write complex female characters so they always just settle for a lot of quirks.  Charlie Kaufman's guys can be quirky for very emotionally complex/ neurotic reasons, but his girls are always very single-minded: penis envy, boundless fascination with one man, or in this case, insecurity.
I think Woody Allen's like the only guy who knows how to write quirky ladies.
But that corniness didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, because the movie is way more about falling in love than about the girl anyways.

Clementine is Kaufman's most honest female character thus far.  Not to say that every woman is like her but there are plenty of women like her.  I don't think she was single-minded at all.  If anything, she had TOO MANY priorities, which was the problem.  

She's that (stereo?)typical geek goddess, the one that guys like Joel think will be perfect for them because she's not a dumb cheerleader Barbie doll but turns out to be a bundle of neuroses.  I'm sure I'm not the only one here who's known a girl like her, dated her and broken up badly with her.  Kate Winslet (mmmmmmmm) nailed it without a hint of caricature, I think.

[pete]

I also know real girls like her and they're corny in real life too.