18: The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Cat

It's one of those films where there's just enough science fiction to give you an interesting plot device, and the for the rest of it you just let the characters play it out. And you don't even really need to know it's Jim Carrey playing the lead role.

Put simply, the question is this: if you had your memories erased, would you still tend towards doing the same things over and over? According to this film, the answer is yes, but what makes it good are the characters reaction to the central device, rather than the device itself. The interweaving plots and subplots are almost Shakespearean (I'm talking about plot, not dialogue quality) and the 'chase' sequence where Jim Carey's character is hiding out inside his own mind to escape being wiped is both fascinating and enthralling, real edge-of-the-seat stuff because you really DON'T know what's going to happen and how they're going to be able to get a resolution out of it.

Of course the final ending is a romantic solution and makes you think - ok, even if I did screw something up like that, would there be any point in doing it over again and giving it another go? And the wonderful, human answer is of course: yes. Along with the other human notion that even when technology begins to seep into our brains, something deeper than pure consciousness is still there, driving us on, giving us hope.

As for why I call it the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Cat, well that's just something for me to know and you to wonder about. Unless your name is Kevin or Rob.