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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind |
I remember coming out of the cinema that day feeling completely mesmerised. I wasn't quite sure what I had just experienced but I knew that it was important. I decided that day, right then, that that was what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to write something that would make someone feel exactly the way I felt right then: Overwhelmed, and happy to be so.
I don't know if I will ever succeed in writing something that will give somebody the feeling I had that day and at this point I don't think it really matters. I feel like every day since that day I have been on a sort of spiritual journey, a pursuit of expression, if you will; Discovering little details about myself and attempting to put all the pieces together. Ten years later and I still don't feel like the complete version of me. Not even close. To be honest, I am terrified of the day that I do feel like the complete version of me. What the fuck do I do then?
"Do you feel overwhelmed by life? You can't be a writer unless you feel overwhelmed by life."
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Before Sunset |
These movies totally blew me away. I can't say that they changed my life, but they certainly improved it. I think. I mean, to seventeen year old Martin these movies were the perfect example of romance. This was exactly what single, virgin, seventeen year old Martin wanted- to meet a beautiful stranger and have an epic romance. Maybe all having these movies in my life actually did was give me false expectations about life. As it happens I did actually end up having a rather epic romantic encounter at the age of nineteen which was akin to the plot of the first film- I have never written about said night on this blog before, but perhaps I will do one day- and even so, I'm not entirely sure that I didn't somewhat engineer that night, or at least manipulate it slightly, in order to emulate the experience of these films.
Last year a second sequel came out, entitled Before Midnight, picking up the story another nine years later. This time I did get to see it at a cinema, in fact I got to see all three movies at a cinema, on the same day. All three films are very close to my heart, but Before Sunset is definitely my favourite of the bunch. It has such a perfect ending.
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Garden State |
There is a conversation the two lead characters have in Garden State about what the word 'home' means to them and it has always stayed with me. The time I first saw the movie I was a teenager, still living at the 'home' I grew up in and after I moved out I was very aware of the gradual feeling of my parents' house not being my home any more. I remember thinking about that scene in Garden State and I often wonder if I would have been so aware of that feeling had it not been for that movie.
There are plenty more movies that I love from 2004 but I won't bang on forever, I will simply give you a list of the ones I can remember off the top of my head: Sideways, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, I Heart Huckabees, Collateral, 2046, Dawn of the Dead, The Machinist, Napoleon Dynamite, Howl's Moving Castle, Closer, Dead Man's Shoes, Creep (Okay, Google may have aided me a little there)
Does anyone else have one particular year that made them fall in love with movies or is it just me?!?
My sister was obsessed with Napoleon Dynamite when it was on pay-per-view, and watched it at least once daily for a several months. Suffice it to say I couldn't stand it within a couple weeks. We obsessed over Garden State together, though, and I can confidently agree that one cannot get sick of that movie.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have one standout year that made me love movies, but Underworld is definitely the one that geared my attention towards wanting to make the costumes.
2004 was a great year for movies. I recently saw Howl's moving castle for the first time and loved it so much.
ReplyDeleteGarden State is a film that makes me rage, usually, but because I like you; I'll let it go.
ReplyDeleteThere's a picture of 2004 Risha and a friend re-enacting the 'YUSSSS!' bit from Napoleon Dynamite. It's suitable embarrassing, but utterly awesome.
The Before Series. We've talked about how much we love this series before. But daaamn. I've forced people to watch the films because I can't fathom how we can be friends/lovers if they haven't. It isn't some life affirming thing, it's the emotion; the sentiment; what it makes you feel. One of my favourite conversations about these films, with one of my favourite people, is from Vienna; drinking on the banks of the Danube and laughing uproariously. <3
p.s. The wonderful Christa Lei wrote about the Before series on her blog and we ended up having quite an intense discussion about it: http://blog.christalei.com/beforeafter/
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen Sunset but I loved Garden State. As for ESOTSM, I think it's weird that nobody every deals with her alcoholism. I don't believe in an idealized relationship between a pushover and a drunk which is what I think their love boils down to. Carry was grand and Michel Gondry is one of my all time favorite directors of basically ever and ever amen, but still, she needs help not a live in caregiver. Lol, sorry if that comes off too harsh. I think being raised around alcoholics makes me a little prickly on the matter.
ReplyDeleteWhy does Garden State make you rage? Tellmetellmetellme
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