Most of the movie is about showing what's going on under these surfaces and how they're both complex and flawed, and aware of how they're perceived. You're selling the characters short here. Kinda like having a coolly competent rougish ass kicker for a lead is expected in an action pic. Having quirky yet opposed leads in a romantic movie is expected. It might work, (in fact I would love to see that) but it's not the same movie as one with Stallone and Russel.ĮSotSM is still a romance movie, though a genre bending one. It would be like going to an 80's action buddy flick that has Gilbert Godfried and David Patrick Kelly. Subplots involving the couple's adult children could be added to explore themes around loss.īut then we're starting to get a different movie.
In fitting with the older characters, the soundtrack could use more older Motown hits, instead of say Polyphonic Spree, to set the mood. Gondry could have used many of the same stylistic choices to indicate fading memories and time shifts. I've considered that maybe this is intentional for the purpose portraying a better than reality type of rose tinted glasses that we wear when nostalgically thinking of fond memories, but at the same time I think that might be over analyzing the film, and it might just be pandering to the type of viewer that this film is aimed at.Īlmost the same story could have been told if the characters were two middle aged divorcees, played by Al Pacino and Helen Mirren, trying to remove their memories of a twenty year marriage. These characters seem to be how the audience wants to/probably does see themselves, rather than how they actually are. Joel is the quiet, nice guy, who's always writing in his journal, he plays to every shy or socially awkward teen or guy in his mid twenties who thinks the world just doesn't understand him.Ĭlementine is the impulsive, wacky, emotional rollercoaster, who's hair is a different color every week. Now with that being said, watching it again made me question whether or not the two main characters, Joel and Clementine, were created to pander to the type of audience that would typically be interested in a movie like ESotSM. I think it has great camera work, great writing, and an awesome soundtrack. I watched ESotSM again tonight, and let me preface this post by saying I really like this movie.