A Look Inside 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'

This is the shorter of the two featurettes on the DVD of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, coming in at about 11 and a half minutes. It consists of interviews(with the main cast, the director and Anthony Bregman, one of the producers), clips of the movie and behind-the-scenes footage, all inter-cut nicely and with an air of enthusiasm that helps keep you watching throughout. The pacing is spot-on, you're never bored. You get introduced to the ideas of the film, Kaufmann's surrealism, Gondry's unique visual finger-print, and more. This doesn't contain that many or particularly big spoilers, so you can give this a chance even if you haven't watched the flick itself. They talk about story, concept, characters, effects, etc. It's quite concise and informative, you find out a lot in this short amount of time. The editing is marvelous, not overly static but without bringing excessive attention to itself. This doesn't really have any objectionable material, the strong language is censored, and anything else is not mentioned. I recommend this to anyone who wants to find out about the big-screen experience, whether or not you've already taken it in. 7/10

I came across this film on various platforms on multiple occasions but never quite got around to watching it. I was confused as the present and the past overlapped but it gained momentum soon when the entire memory erasing procedure of Joel's mind started. In the beginning, we see Clementine took Joel over to the frozen lake and he is reluctant because it might break. In this case, she was willing to dive headfirst while he was hesitant. This allegory was important as in the end, when they both listen to their respective tapes and know there is a possibility it wont end well, Joel is he one who convinces Clem to take this risk again. Its not about ignoring consequences altogether but not restricting yourself because of negative possibilities. Because they coexist with positive possibilities. So maybe, we need to give both equal consideration.

I thought this particular feature in the DVD package was valuable because it explains what's going on in the storyline, not how the camera work was done, etc. (That's interesting, too, but totally separate.) It's just basically a synopsis. It's helpful, because upon viewing the film the first time, it seems rushed and confusing, and you care very much about the couple, but you're thinking, "What is going on now?!" It confused and disturbed me, but I couldn't shake it from my mind, and someone suggested that I watch it again. I did, and now I was on track with how the stories unfolded. It hit me like no other love story in this modern age of cinema. And for those of us who love to dissect a motion picture, technologically and otherwise, this particular DVD extra feature made things clearer, so upon subsequent viewings it became more satisfying and fully appreciated. More DVD's should have information like this included in their package.