Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - film response

Essay by YoddiHigh School, 11th gradeA-, July 2007

download word file, 3 pages 4.0

Downloaded 24 times

'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' is an incredibly well planned, intricate film that you really have to pay attention to and think throughout. The randomness and maze-like ordering of scenes is extremely rare and possibly unique to itself. As a film, the quality level of cinematic techniques play key roles in the enhancement of the messages made across.

The music and lighting in this film are both subtle and well placed to suit this random film, especially the two messages; 'Accept who you are' and 'Everything happens for a reason'. These two cinematic techniques almost have a different setting for each 'time slot' in the film. One section of time may have harsh lighting and slightly heavier/angrier music, another section may have soft, mellow lighting and sympathetic music and then another section may have 'sunny' lighting and happy music. Music is related to as the 'language of emotion', which is likely why it fits in with these two messages; they're very close to heart messages, the lighting just enhances the music thus enhancing the messages.

'Don't focus on the bad' is a message that is really brought to it's full glory with the cinematic technique aid of the mind erasing scenes. The obscurity of the scenes in which Joel (Jim Carey, main) is having his mind erased of Clementine (Kate Winslet, second main) is created mainly by computer work eg: making houses disintegrate whilst they're talking in the doorway. What you realise, from the help of cinema, during these scenes is that Joel and Clementine were focusing on the bad times of their relationship; fights, fear, mistrust, disappointment etc instead of the good times; running on the beach, late sleep ins, going out together etc. You see this focus in these scenes and their realisation of it...