'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' review

Our memories makes us who we are. You can't change the past.

In one of Jim Carrey’s greatest films, he portrays a heartbroken, shy guy who has just learned that his girlfriend had her memory erased of him in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In the 2004 film directed by Michel Gondry, the nonlinear story of a couple’s relationship and its downfall depicts loss, memory, desire and heartache. One of the quotes from the film that I think represents Eternal is, “I already forget how I used to feel about you.” This line could be from Joel (Jim Carrey) as he decides to get his memory erased of his girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet), on an impulse. During the process, he relives his memories of Clementine and realizes that he does not want to let go off her yet because even through the bad, there was a lot of good.

Memory is very important in the film as it is used as a device. Memory is used as a device because many characters in the film use it for manipulation, self-pain, and something to hold on to/regress on. In Joel and Clementine’s relationship, memory is used as something to hurt each other and to also love each other with. By hurting, Joel uses his old memories of Clementine to hurt her, like her being a cheater or really promiscuous. As payback, Clementine has Joel erased from her memory. When Joel tries to have the same procedure done, during it, he regrets her after remembering all of the love there was.

The director manipulates the viewer's’ sight by making Joel and Clementine’s interactions appear to be fading away every time they are together, like memories. Also, because the memories are from Joel’s point-of-view, they could also be what he thinks his relationship was like, and that the real Clementine might not actually be how he remembered her as. During one scene, where Joel whispers, “this is the last time I saw you” as Clementine is walking around the apartment, gathering her things to leave. She is in one spot and a different one at another time, which shows that the memory is gone very quickly. It leaves Joel with a sense of panic and desperateness and he tries to stop her from leaving.

Overall, as one of my favorite films, it is a great example of a love story that is unconventional. Clementine is a vibrant, seductive, outgoing woman, while Joel is more introverted and soft-spoken. The two of them together makes the audience think that perhaps Clementine and Joel did a good thing with having their memory erased of each other. However, after seeing Joel’s memories of their relationship, changes the viewer’s mind because you can see that Joel truly loved Clementine and their relationship just had some bumps in it like every other one.

'Pulp Fiction' review

“And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee”

Sometime in 2016, I watched Pulp Fiction for the first time with a friend of mine and always wondered to myself, “What is this movie even about?” To break down that question, you have to watch the film and then piece it all together like a puzzle. The film itself is nonlinear, but each story somehow fits with the other. The director, Quentin Tarantino makes this work, even though it is confusing.

Out of all the stories, “The Bonnie Situation” is most likely my personal favorite and makes sense with the plot. In “The Bonnie Situation,” the two main protagonists, Vincent and Jules have accidentally killed someone, associated with an earlier character, in their car and are desperate to have it cleaned. Vincent and Jules drive to a friend, Jimmy, who is played by the director himself, Tarantino. At Jimmy’s house, they try to figure out how to get the car cleaned and dispose of the body. However, this all needs to be done before Jimmy’s wife Bonnie comes back home from work. Bonnie works the graveyard shift at the hospital and does not need to be put in a situation that might end up with her divorcing Jimmy, so he says. Jules calls his employer, Marsellus, and he sends his personal “cleaner” to fix the problem. The car is cleaned and the situation is resolved before Bonnie arrives home.

In “The Bonnie Situation,” it stands alone as an entire story. It contains humor, crime and somewhat mystery as to what is really going on in Vincent and Jules’ line of work. The plot of the film in general could be described as a crime drama, but it is so much more and complex than that. Pulp Fiction is mainly about people making the wrong decisions and being at a location, at the wrong time. All of the characters are put into situations that they manage to get out of, but it also takes a lot of time in order to do so. Tarantino made a film that is a sort of cautionary tale to people who make poor decisions, without even thinking about it. “The Bonnie Situation” is so important to the film, because a character that is not even shown on screen, but is talked about, holds the control of the events that take place during her absence. Although Bonnie is not present, her husband is extremely worried about how everything will turn out, if she were to arrive home early. Literally, the entire process of the car cleaning would have never happened, if Bonnie was home. It would have even been unentertaining if Jimmy were single. The idea of almost getting caught doing something immoral and vile, is fascinating and exciting, in a disturbing, sickening way.

The film illustrates violence and humor as something that can be coexisting and not separate. “The Bonnie Situation” is a great example of this, because of its immoral act of cleaning up a dead body. The scene is led to a small, but drawn-out discussion that is both about gourmet coffee and a dead, Black man in Jimmy’s garage. It is so ridiculous, in the sense that it is supposed to be funny, but also serious at the same time. I believe that is what Tarantino’s cameo was indicated for; to make light of a crazy situation. Tarantino’s character could have been played by anyone, but he decided to do it himself, because who can truly play an “outsider” better than he can?

Pulp Fiction is definitely the type of film people watch and wonder, “What have I just watched?” but now people know. It wasn’t a crime drama. It wasn’t a romance or a gangster film. It was just a film, a confusing one, about people being in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and most of them getting killed for it (Vincent). Lesson learned: Never go to the bathroom.

'Fargo' review

5 Reasons Why “Fargo” Wasn’t Funny

A woman is cheerfully knitting and watching a morning show, when she notices a man wearing a black ski mask and holding a crowbar, approaching her back door. She watches the man with curiosity, as he peers into her house through the glass door. She continues to watch him as he breaks the glass door open with the crowbar. She jumps out of her chair and runs towards her front door, where she encounters another man identically dressed as the first one. He grabs her and she bites him, running up the stairs to the second floor. Upstairs, the second man is aiding his hand in the bathroom when the woman, who is hiding in the shower, leaps out and is completely covered by the shower curtain. In her frenzy, she tumbles down the stairs and is momentarily unconscious. The second man is shocked, as he pokes her still body.

In this film called “Fargo” (1996), directed by Joel Coen, while his brother, Ethan, co-wrote the screenplay with him, many people think that this scene is humorous. However, it was one of the many scenes that I did not laugh at. I felt very uncomfortable and I pitied the poor woman, who was not given much of a character description other than being called “Jean” and she is the wife of Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) and the daughter of a wealthy family. In the film, a man hires two men to kidnap his wife and then ask for ransom money from his in-laws, who are wealthy. When the plan goes wrong, a pregnant police chief tries to solve the murder of three people that were killed, among other situations that occur in the film.

Before watching the film, I had no clue what it was about. I watched the film with brand new eyes and I believe that is the best way to watch a movie. Due to this, I had no reason to instantly dislike the movie because of the plot, actors or time period. After I finished watching the film, I looked it up online and Google told me that it is a “dark comedy, crime thriller”. This is something that I disagreed with. I felt as if the internet, the Coen brothers and everyone else in the world was playing a cruel joke on me. This movie was neither a comedy, nor a thriller; in this case, it brings me to a countdown of the reasons why I think “Fargo” is not funny.

Reason #5: Although “Fargo” is classified as a “dark comedy and crime thriller”, it is not funny because of just… that. It does not take much for me, personally, to laugh at something, but because I was not aware that this film was “dark” and “comedic”, I ignored the fact that the film was intended for me to laugh at some of the parts. Such as, Jean falling down the stairs because she got caught in her shower curtain. The reason why she is caught in the shower curtain is disturbing. She is running away from men that are there to kidnap her, an order given by her pathetic husband.

Reason #4: Mental issues and physical problems are joked about. There is a long running, belittling joke about one of the kidnapper’s, Carl (Steve Buscemi), height and appearance. He evidently appears differently than his accomplice, Gaear, who is taller, blond, quiet and seems more intimidating than Carl. Besides Carl’s height and looks being made fun of, another character, Mike, who is an old high school classmate of Marge, the pregnant police chief, has bigger issues. It was obvious to me that he had some type of issue, because not only did he call her home in the middle of the night, but he sounded extremely jittery on the phone call and was very eager to meet her in person. When they finally met for dinner, he told her details about his life that she was not expecting, not that she even wanted to know about it. He cried in front of her, as he poured his heart out to her. Many people would find this hilarious, but it worried me. Marge is a pregnant woman dealing with a mentally ill person, but she appeared calm in front of him and did not show any signs of fear. Soon after that scene, she finds out that Mike lied to her about everything, and the truth is that he is just very ill. The Coen brothers did a bad job of trying to make Mike’s situation funny, but they did a great job of creating mystery and building up Marge’s role of a “mother figure”.

Reason 3: Gore is not funny; it is gross. Not much to say about this theme of the film. There are many scenes where people get killed and they are not pretty or funny sights. I am not sure if the Coen brothers tried to make the death scenes appear “light”, but they did the complete opposite. Usually when I watch death scenes, I feel uneasy about them and it makes me physically sick. In one scene particular, a classmate of mine said that the part when Gaear is seen putting Carl’s body parts into a wood-chipper, that it was one of the best and funniest scenes in the film. Well, I don’t think so. All the viewer sees is literally, Gaear putting body parts in a wood-chipper. There is nothing funny about it, but disturbing and weird. It is weird, because it’s a WOOD-CHIPPER of all things.

Reason 2: The characters, Carl and Jerry and the situations that they’re put in are not funny. I will admit now, I was incredibly happy and excited to see William H. Macy in the film. He is one of my favorite actors, which is ironic because I KNOW that he is a funny person and actor in general. Macy is currently starring in a show called “Shameless” on Showtime and it is so amazing and odd to see him portray a character like Frank Gallagher and then see him play an almost equally pathetic, terrible, and manipulative character such as Jerry Lundegaard. However, what Jerry lacks is humor. If Jerry and Frank met in a jail cell or randomly in a restaurant in Chicago, Jerry could definitely learn a few things. Due to his character being a complete slimeball, this made him less funny and less intriguing. That goes the same for Carl as well. The actions that he carries out, killing multiple people because they “got in the way” was completely unnecessary.

Reason 1: And finally… their accents are not funny. They are very, very annoying. The film was set in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and if you didn’t know already, people who are native Minnesotans have very strong accents. Their accents sound almost Scottish or Irish, but like… worse. The characters say “Oh yeah?” in every single scene and their accents became so bothersome to me that it came to the point where I wasn’t even watching the film, I was paying more attention to what they were saying and how they were saying it. I can’t even begin to imagine why the Coen brothers chose this specific state and to actually have their actors speak in the accent for the film. I believe it’s because they think the accent sound funny, so it makes the “crime thriller” aspect of the film sound silly and ridiculous. Not only is the film not funny, but it’s ridiculous to the point of “why am I watching this?” to “what is this even really about?” The ending, just ends with Marge in bed with her husband, pretending like everything's okay, as if she did not just almost die.

I’m not sure about everyone else who has seen the film, but this is not what I signed up for.

Movie Review Recommendations!

Hey readers!

Because I have a busy schedule with balancing school and the blog, I don't have enough time to actually go to the movie theater. That's why I'm asking for movie review recommendations! I will watch the movie if I haven't seen it already. If I have seen the movie, I'll still review it! I enjoy sharing my thoughts on things and helping people decide on a good movie to see! COMMENT BELOW! I might even watch a scary movie! I also enjoy classic black and white films ;)