Word: joel
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Here, working with Human Nature director Michel Gondry, Kaufman wonders whether one person can be true to another, whatever obstacles pile up. On Valentine's Day 2004, Joel Barish (a wonderfully forlorn Jim Carrey) decides to skip work and--who knows why--take a train to Montauk on the frosty tip of Long Island. There he is accosted by free-spirited Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet, ornery and seductive). She lures mopey Joel into an affair, which proves to have as many abrasive spots as soft ones. Truth to tell, they're a wildly ill-suited pair. But, hey, bitter with...
...this science-fiction comedy-drama, in which love means never having to remember you were sorry. When Joel learns Clem has had her memory of their affair removed by a Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson), he resolves to do the same; why should he suffer remorse when Clem's slate is clean? So he sticks his head in Dr. M.'s apparatus--an Ed Wood--style space helmet mixed with a hair dryer--but, as his mind swims through the memory-erasure process, he decides that even the rotten memories of Clem are worth treasuring. How to stop all this, escape...
...film says love could be the emotional equivalent of muscle memory; it's buried so deep that even modern science, or science fiction, can't reach it. Love isn't what we remember; it's what we are. For all the memory Dr. M. extracts from Joel, the doctor neglects to remove his patient's heart, and that leads the poor sap right back to his unforgettable inamorata. If it's meant to happen, it will, over and over. You can't erase destiny...
...music-making Legos, a visual touch that is compelling in its own right, yet also accentuates the music. In a similar way, the casting of Eternal is creative, but accentuates the writing and directing. Jim Carrey is actually quiet for significant pieces of the role: he underplays, giving Joel a quiet dignity that makes the eventual disgrace in losing control over his own mind that much sadder. This is the first movie in which Carrey allows the audience to forget that he’s playing a role...
...perfectly as a whole. Lacuna’s office and machines seem low-key and delightfully sketchy enough to be run by The Simpson’s Dr. Nick. However, this location makes it possible for them to engage in their necessarily secretive and presumably illegal procedures. How does Joel run through his memories? Gondry portrays with visual innovation the rather trite idea that love can override all boundaries...