'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.

'Blade Runner' Review

In the dystopian science fiction film noir Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott, based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, tells about human-made robots called “replicants” that look visibly identical to humans and are used by the Tyrell Corporation for hard labor. The replicants rebelling on Earth are searched for and “retired” (killed) by police operatives called “Blade Runners”. In the film, the replicants were genetically made to be emotionless androids that hold no empathy for others, but they appear to be compassionate, whereas humans in contrast appear rude and lack humanity. Thus, asking the question, “What does it mean to be human?”
In order to identify replicants from humans, they are given a test called "Voight-Kampff". Their empathy toward things is tested through their response to certain questions. Tyrell’s assistant, Rachael is an experimental replicant, but she believes she is human. Rachael’s mind is full of memories from her past. However, when Blade Runner, Deckard, tells her bluntly that her memories were inserted into her brain from a real human; she shows true emotion by crying. Though, she is forced to go through a more advanced version of the "Voight-Kampff" to check if she’s a replicant for sure. Rachael is depicted as a femme fatale replicant. She saves Deckard from being killed, but her relationship with him is depicted as dominated by Deckard.

The leader and most dangerous of the group of rebelling replicants was presented as Roy, who appeared to hold human, yet animalistic characteristics. When Roy manipulates genetic designer, J.F. Sebastian to get to his “creator” Tyrell to try to convince him to expand his 4-year lifespan, and is rejected, he kisses then kills his creator. While doing so, he seems to express regret when he kills Tyrell.
The epic battle towards the end of the film between Roy and Deckard exposed Roy’s animalistic side when he searches for a beaten Deckard and howls at the ceiling. When Deckard is falling off a building and is near death, a dying Roy saves him in time and tells him about all the things he has done and all the things he has seen and utters his last words: “All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain. Time… to die”. Roy releases a dove, which could be represented as his soul or in Biblical images such as Noah’s Flood. Roy’s behavior towards the end of his life showed how compassionate and humanistic a very powerful replicant can be. As for the humans shown in the film, they were characterized as cold people. As Zhora, a rebel replicant, was being “retired”, the human population was oblivious of the event. They held their power over their creations by forcing them into being “mega-manufacturers”.
Blade Runner creates the idea that replicants are harsh, unsympathetic androids when in reality, they are compassionate with each other and show concern. Humans are revealed to be cold and lack humanity, while replicants’ humanity was shown many times, when a replicant would save a human’s life. The question “What does it mean to be human?” is not quite answered when the film adds that Deckard might be in fact, a replicant. Although, a replicant’s past and memories are inserted into their minds and come from a human’s; it is still possible for a human and replicant to have the same memories. But the question remains uncertain… until the sequel is released in October of 2017.