Nearly spotless love story on screen

ALLEN MacDONALD

Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) is a mild-mannered, reserved, introverted

man. His ex-girlfriend is Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet), an

impulsive, opinionated, capricious live-wire.

Early on in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” after we’ve

discovered their relationship has crashed but continues to burn, Joel

Barish visits Clementine at the Barnes and Noble Booksellers that

employs her. Joel is ready to beg for her return, but his volatility

hints that it could crumble quickly into an angry exchange of words.

Instead, the filmmakers threw us a curve ball. Clementine has

absolutely no idea who Joel is, despite having spent the last year of

her life loving and living with him.

Thus begins one of the most innovative, heartbreaking, and,

ultimately, hopeful love stories committed to celluloid in recent

years. Joel soon finds that Clementine hired Dr. Howard Mierzwiak

(Tom Wilkinson) to erase any and all memory she has of their

relationship. The pain of their lives ripping apart proved too much

for her to bear, so she opted to have it removed. Fuming at the

coldness of such an act, Joel retaliates by rushing directly to Dr.

Mierzwiak to have the procedure performed on him as well.

It is this operation that we experience with Joel inside his head

as his memories are erased backward, from his most recent encounter

with Clementine all the way back to the moment they met a year

earlier. Joel must re-experience every memory so it can be located in

his brain, then destroyed. Telling the story from the end back to the

beginning isn’t an original storytelling device, but “Eternal

Sunshine” is the first movie I’ve seen in the last five years to

utilize it so successfully.

We witness love on rewind. It is devastating to watch Joe and

Clementine drive each other away, then, scene-by-scene, see all the

magnetic qualities that pulled them together. It’s excruciating for

Joel, who begins the movie determined to forget Clementine. Then, as

he re-experiences the happier times, he begins regretting his haste,

at first begging to keep his most precious memories, then desperately

trying to convince the Clementine in his memory that he must hide her

in other memories where the doctor won’t find her, and he’ll be able

to bring her back after the procedure is complete.

Most films are defined by their director, but “Eternal Sunshine”

is the brainchild of its writer, Charlie Kaufman, who has met with

great acclaim since his feature debut with Spike Jonze’s “Being John

Malkovich.” With that singular achievement, Kaufman established

himself with a distinct voice that boldly eschewed most screenwriting

conventions, and manipulated traditional film structure to yield to

his will. His premises are both insane yet fascinating, but first and

foremost, they are each an intense scrutiny on the frailty of human

emotion. “Malkovich” was on the surface the story of a man who finds

a portal into the mind of John Malkovich and sells the experience to

others, but beneath the plot layers, it’s the story of a lonely guy

seeking the romantic affections of his cold, calculating co-worker.

The same is true with “Eternal Sunshine,” the clever device is the

memory erasing technology, but it is a means to an end. The sci-fi

element is just a catalyst from which to explore love from a

completely fresh vantage.

The director, Michel Gondry, deserves more than his share of

props. The film is a spectacle of visual inventiveness, especially in

scenes where Joel’s memories are deteriorating around him. Carrey and

Winslet give powerhouse performances that are never showy. Many of

their scenes show them engaged in intimate whispers, and as a viewer,

I felt like a fly on the wall watching two real people. That’s quite

an accomplishment for both actors, but especially Carrey, who is

forced to bottle all the energy that usually sends him bouncing all

over the screen. This restraint forces him to use subtle movement and

expression to convey turmoil within.

There are three other outstanding performances in the film that I

won’t go into since they reveal too much: Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood

and Kirsten Dunst, whose individual roles each bring texture and

depth to thematic questions “Eternal Sunshine” poses so adroitly: Who

are we without our memory? If we had the power to erase our memories,

aren’t we destined to repeat mistakes? How much does the pain of past

relationships inform our present ones?

* ALLEN MacDONALD, 30, recently earned a master’s in screenwriting

from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

Well made, but no character in ‘Spartan’

“Spartan” is a lean and sparse story about a covert “retrieve and

rescue” special ops agent and the type of missions he deals with.

Robert Scott follows orders from his superiors and gives orders to

new recruits with the same unemotional response and attitude.

Writer/ director David Mamet has created a story about government

covert operations a little too well, in that most everything about

the people and their lives remain hidden from the audience. Audiences

like to connect and identify with the main character in stories.

Scott’s aloof personality, although realistic, keeps viewers at a

distance and therefore feeling left out of Scott’s life.

Scott (Val Kilmer) is a by-the-book government assassin. On call

24/7, Scott operates at maximum efficiency without getting tired,

hungry or in need of venting human emotions unless they are designed

to interrogate a subject or complete his mission. This puts Scott at

the top of the call list every time the president’s inner circle has

a problem that needs solving.

Called upon to find and rescue the president’s kidnapped daughter,

Scott goes down the rabbit hole and into the secret backroom offices

and inner chambers of the White House, moving through a maze of

organized procedures and strategies of the elite presidential

advisors. Mamet (“House of Games,” “Heist”) stages the movements and

activities of Scott like a quick-moving stage play shuttling Scott

from the training field to the command posts, then out to into the

field with precise speed, although not always with a clear

understanding of events that would let the audience understand and be

privy to.

For Scott, there is no gray area when it comes to obeying orders

-- he does what he’s told and never asks questions. As strongly as

this aspect of his personality is set up in the opening act, when

Scott makes a u-turn by disobeying orders and making decisions on his

own regarding the kidnapping, his reasons remain a mystery. It’s not

clear why Scott has decided to jeopardize his life and career in this

particular situation. Not revealing what his intentions or reasons

are may keep with Scott’s personality in real life, but in the movie

the audience needs to know what is going on and why. It’s what draws

the audience into the characters and story of movies. It’s why people

watch movies, to know what’s going on with the characters and why.

“Spartan” does have its emotional moments with supporting

characters that serve to indirectly show how good Scott is at his

work and why and how he has stayed alive when the death rate among

field operatives is dangerously high. The audience is left to wonder

how Scott copes with the high-pressure lifestyle, why he signed on,

or what caused him to shift his attitude about this particular

assignment. Without being able to get close to Scott to find out what

makes him tick, there is no incentive to care too much about someone

you know nothing about.

The strength of “Spartan” is that it’s a film by Mamet. His

attention to speech patterns, economy of dialogue and method of

telling a story so differs from mainstream films that it’s refreshing

to watch.

* PEGGY J. ROGERS, 40, produces commercial videos and

documentaries.

New ‘Dawn’ more gory, but not as good

You wake up one morning and everyone you know is a reanimated

corpse who wants to eat you. What should you do? Go to the mall, of

course.

That’s what the characters do in “Dawn of the Dead,” the new

version of George Romero’s 1978 zombie gore-fest. This new rendition

isn’t really a remake of Romero’s movie, and the two movies don’t

have much in common except zombies and a mall. The new story isn’t

quite as solid as the original, but this version has a much cleaner

look. Despite some flaws, the new “Dawn of the Dead” delivers plenty

of chills and is an exciting movie if you’re a fan of this genre.

Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” is typically regarded as the

“Citizen Kane” of zombie movies. His sequel, “Dawn of the Dead,”

picked up where “Night” left off, and fans also regard this movie as

a horror classic. In addition to being a low budget gore flick, it’s

also a poignant satire on suburban culture and materialism. The

survivors living in a mall are surrounded by all the luxuries they’ve

ever craved, but as time progresses they suffer from isolation,

boredom and hopelessness.

The new version of “Dawn of the Dead” features much better looking

zombies than Romero’s, and better looking gore. The gore isn’t as

over-the-top, but there’s no doubt the crew members making blood were

working overtime. Unfortunately, the stronger look comes at the

expense of story and character development. There are a few important

moments in the new version where things don’t quite make sense, and

that’s a problem. For example, we’re never told how the characters

entered the mall safely and securely. That may seem a little

nitpicky, but it’s a central issue to the story.

A bigger issue is the missed opportunities to explore the

characters, their relationships and their fears. Ignoring character

development is a common mistake in horror movies. In horror, the fear

you feel is directly tied to the empathy you feel for the characters.

Unfortunately, director Zack Snyder and screenwriter James Gunn are

unwilling to let us get to know their characters. The story hints at

deeper conflicts between the characters, like problems with racism

and misogyny, but these issues are quickly forgotten when they get in

the way of the action. This mistake is what keeps their version of

“Dawn of the Dead” from being the kind of movie that has you looking

over your shoulder as you walk to your car.

Another mistake is how Gunn and Snyder deliberately avoid poking

fun at consumerism, which is the whole reason the zombies mindlessly

flock to the mall. In the real world, shopping malls create zombies,

mindlessly clutching for anything under your credit limit is as

American as J.C. Penney. Why use the mall as a setting if you have no

plans to use it to say anything? Overall, I like this movie, but its

refusal to try to say anything with its story and characters is why

it will never be held in the same regard as the original 1978

version.

On the plus side, Ving Rhames and Sarah Polley both bring a strong

screen presence that helps their characters breathe life into the

movie. Rhames says a lot with just a few words. He has real

vulnerabilities in addition to size and power. Polley plays a

quick-thinking nurse. She doesn’t make the stupid mistakes that are

typically made by characters in horror movies. Rhames and Polley are

both well-established actors that have extensive filmographies filled

with terrific performances. It’s a shame that Snyder and Gunn didn’t

make more extensive use of their talented cast.

If you’re one of the gorehounds who’s planning to see this movie,

you don’t want to arrive late and miss any of the first scenes before

the opening credits. After a brief introduction into Polley’s

suburban life, the movie takes off like a rocket into intense horror.

The first ten minutes are sensational. Likewise, you shouldn’t leave

when the credits start to appear. The action continues all the way to

the last frame of the film. Unfortunately, the scenes shown during

the closing credits are handheld video, which is becoming an overused

horror cliche. The movie would have been stronger without this

material, but you’ll want to stick around and watch it anyway.

The big issue I have with viewing this movie is with some members

of the audience. “Dawn of the Dead” makes no secret that it’s loaded

with graphic violence. It’s become common for parents to take

children with them to movies, in lieu of hiring a baby-sitter.

There’s no good excuse for bringing toddlers to see this movie. I saw

plenty of kindergarten-aged children in the late show Friday night.

Ironically, many of these parents are more concerned about their

children seeing a bare female breast than a person’s head blown open

with a gunshot. Some people have some very strange ideas about what

is natural and acceptable.

There are some mature teens that I think can handle this kind of

movie, and I’d rather see these kids go with their parents than sneak

in with friends. If you have a teenage son, there’s a good chance he

wants to see this movie. My recommendation is that if you think he’s

mature enough, go ahead and take him, but insist on a cultural

trade-off. “Dawn of the Dead” is mental junk food. Insist that at a

later date he goes with you to see a higher-caliber movie of your

choosing, goes with you to an art museum, or does something else with

you that has some cultural substance. Zombies prefer the taste of

unused brains, so expanding his cultural horizons will help protect

him from the living dead.

* JIM ERWIN, 40, is a technical writer and computer trainer.