Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in a science fiction based love story, where a couple fall in love, fall out of love. They have each other erased from their memories and as they step back through those memories they realise what they had and what they are giving up.

With Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood and Mark Ruffalo in the cast, this really is a wonderful piece of film making. The ideas behind the film are simple, would you erase someone from your life if you had the opportunity? It explores the idea around what would you do if you made a rash decision that you could not go back on. It also asks the questions around should we have any control and we not love and lose people for a reason even if that reason is painful at times.

Another film that when I first heard about it did not tickle my fancy, however I started watching it and was captivated and there are a nice couple of twists that make it interesting and intriguing. This is a 4 star recommend from me, it covers the romantic film and science fiction also makes you appreciate what you have and why it is good to remember as you learn from life.

Contagion (2011)

Film of 2012 #44

The Stephen Soderbergh ensemble piece starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishbourne, Kate Winslet, Jude law and a multitude of other characters. It takes a look at the impact of a deadly global pandemic and what would happen within society if such a thing was to happen in our world. It is very clever in a lot of ways as it mixes the small story following people such as the Matt Damon character who is just trying to survive with his daughter and cope with what is going on around him but just trying to survive without needing to know what is happening. You have the Laurence Fishbourne character as the lead American trying to find a cure and to also track what the disease is and where it came from. The Jude Law character is a blogger that is popular enough that he takes an on line lead in exposing what he sees is happening, his character goes on an interesting story.

This is a difficult story to tell as they are telling it from so many angles and there are a lot of details that need to be picked up to get all of the points they are trying to make. Paying attention is well worth it and I think that on a re-watch this film will be quite interesting to see if you can catch all of the references. I think the way it is sewn together you are not bothered by any story lines, there is none I was thinking, too much time on that person what is happening with such and such. So it shows that the pacing is excellent and they got the split across each of the stories really good.

I have heard lots of good things about this film and can only really add my recommendation to the pile, it is 4 stars and well worth seeing. If you get the chance to watch it or have seen it then let me know what you thought of it, do you agree with me or am I wrong.