Movie #1

After watching Amelie on Tuesday, I got the movie bug.  As the weather was still rainy, I didn't want to spend too long choosing something at Video Ezy.  In a mood for art house, but hopefully not too serious, as soon as I spied Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind I picked it up.  This is a movie I haven't seen but I think most people would assume that I had seen it.

Wednesday night, I watched it.  I don't necessarily agree with the comment on the front cover - "A smart, sexy and seriously funny comedy!" (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone).  There were parts that made me laugh, some cry, reflect, turn all nostalgic... But most of all, it made me think.  A lot.

What would I choose to erase?  Is there anything from certain relationships that I would want to keep?  Curiously, I decided I didn't want to erase any of the more traumatic relationships, but what I think of as the best (in that, they were least damaging and psychologically screwy), I had no problem removing from my brain.  After pondering this for a while, my subconscious went to work overnight.  When I awoke, I realised the movie's subtle point: we can only learn from our mistakes if we can remember our mistakes.  Which is why I didn't want to erase the bad stuff, and why I shouldn't want to erase the less traumatic relationships.  Long ago I had realised that, although the bad stuff was uncomfortable and hurtful at the time, it's made me more understanding of others, and less judgmental.  As for the less traumatic stuff - who wants to spend years repeating stupid mistakes?  Not me.

Visually, I appreciated the starkness of the 'erased' bits - Montauk, the frozen lake, the train trip, the snow.  The possibility that comes with the absence of busyness.  It had me wanting to go to North America and take photos of white landscapes.