the world forgetting by the world forgot

Love love l o v e Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

I guess I'm just a fan of quirky, thought-provoking movies about off-beat relationships. Sensing a pattern anyone?

Eternal Sunshine though is quite different than 500 days of Summer in its stylistic approach and character development. The agenda is also completely different. It's so weird how a similar archetype can be developed into something extraordinarily unique.

This movie has been haunting me all day. If you could erase the painful memories, the sour relationships, the regrets, the rash words...would you? Does this make our lives fundamentally better to forget all the bad?

The irony is in the title, which is a quote from Alexander Pope. Forgetfulness does not produce eternal sunshine. Ignorance is not bliss. It's more like a dreary day. You're stuck in limbo between the warmth and happiness of the summer sun and the crisp, sometimes unbearable cold of the winter months. Yet in their juxtaposition, they complete each other. Moderate temperature is the most loathed of all. It masquerades as a means to an end. It gives the promise of the tipping scale, but it really just leaves you longing. Longing for something more than dull and mediocre. Getting rid of the bad inherently pulls the good with it and you're left in the middle of the road with nowhere to go.

Before I drown in the philosophical deep end, see the movie. It's lovely.

I nominate young Werther here.

Okay, here is another post on 500 Days of Summer. I was on imdb.com, and there seems to be all these haters for the movie. So here is why I unabashedly love this movie:
-I like when film makers make a film. They include foreshadowing and symbolism. You can tell when a movie is just there for cash revenue. This is why I find value in a lot of indie flicks. (No, it's not because I want to be an artsy cliche.) Independent films still have some value--a message, a theme, a story... They make movies for movie's sake. I love movies, and I'm not ashamed. Film can be an art, but like most art forms (music, literature, painting, dance), it can be manipulated, down graded, and sold cheaply to the masses. This is contradictory toward the true purpose of art, which I believe is to express being. This involves everything associated with being human: emotion, action, reaction, conflict, politics, events, etc., etc., etc. Before I get didactic and off-topic, suffice it to say, I think 500 Days of Summer is a work of art with the best of intentions.
-The cinematography is beautiful and deliberate. I respect the fact that they paid homage to a city that usually gets trashed. Los Angeles has never been my destination of choice, but this movie changed my mind, and gave me a glimpse at the older, vintage, Hollywood-void LA. I started to appreciate architecture (something I knew nothing about) because of Tom, and the movie supported his love. I admire that the writers stood up for their city, and showed us why.
- The soundtrack is perfect.
-The blue scheme is unique. I admire the dedication they devoted to it.
-Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel were so natural in their roles. JGL mastered a wide array of emotion he was supposed to portray on the various days. I got choked up in just the way he looks at her at the end. No words were even necessary. I think he's very underated as an actor. ZD is very comfortable in her skin. She's quirky, but there is something about her that makes you understand that "Summer Effect."
-The expectations vs. reality scene was simply brilliant. It was executed flawlessly without too much confusion, and probably rings true with every person sometime in his/her life.
-I like the disorderly way the narrative was set. I feel that's how relationships often are when remembering back. You get snippets of good and bad. Memories mesh together. Time becomes irrelevant. This movie juxtaposed emotions sometimes delicately and sometimes starkly. Relationships bring out the full spectrum of human emotion.
-This wasn't an attack on women. It would be easy to say "women are just a ruthless and barbaric species who are out to crip-stomp every man's heart." The movie was not out to frame Summer. No one was the bad guy. Sometimes people don't feel the same way about each other. Sometimes people have walls that need to be broken down. Sometimes people remain blind to the negative in a relationship. Sometimes we do get our hearts broken, and no one is at fault. Sometimes life just happens.
-It's optimistic--not cynical, which is very refreshing.
-It's funny and cheerful mixed with serious, which is a hard balance to create. Thoroughly great writing by Marc Weber and Scott Neustadter.