Groundhog Day
I watched "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" the other day, recommended by a friend I used to suspect would rather have some serious root canal work than watch a Jim Carrey movie, so I was curious.
On the other hand, although he's a film (amateur) student and has sensational taste, he also has a healthy appetite for really atrocious movies. He's even instituted a small film festival, held in people's homes, to celebrate these. So I had no idea.
And I don't know yet. Carrey was remarkable in his willingness to leave the bag of tricks at home, and Kate Winslet created a really nice character, a neurotic woman who knows it and warns prospective love interests.
It's also a spectacular example of a story that might only be told cinematically, since most of it takes place in the mind and memories of its main character.
But I'm not writing a review. I don't do that well, and I watched it in segments and I think a movie that plays with linear logic needs to be watched in a...linear way. I need another shot at it, in other words.
Note: If you like a movie where the guy gets the girl and John Wayne saves the town and everything, you know, makes sense, I'd stay away. You have to hand over your premises with this one, and while I happen to think that's fun it's probably not for everybody.
It reminded me, though, of what I like, and the date, and I was thinking about "Groundhog Day."
If "Casablanca"is my favorite film, and I'm pretty sure it is, then "Groundhog Day" might be my most favorite anyway. It wasn't a sleeper, exactly, it had pretty good reviews, but it had more of an evolutionary quality, something I suspect the filmmakers didn't anticipate. I read somewhere that a lot of theologians, etc., for only one example, have come over the years to consider it possibly the most spiritual movie ever made. I'm not sure about that, but I love it, love the metaphor for some of my own life, love that I think it might be the kind of movie that Charlie Chaplin and Samuel Beckett would make together.
I love the story of a man who, finding himself caught in habit and humdrumness, flails through amazement and then despair, recklessness, suicidal ideation, boredom, and then finds the answer: You only break the monotony, and save your pathetic life, by learning how to change. Or by learning. Or by changing. Or some combination.
So, I'd celebrate Groundhog Day, since it's a national holiday and all, by watching "Groundhog Day," but I forgot until today. Maybe next week.
I was reminded this morning. I had a little time on my hands so I read Janet's blog, which I'm not going to link to because I'm not sure she wants that sort of attention. I wrote about Janet here. She mentioned Groundhog Day, and the stupidity of the whole thing (we've still got six weeks of winter, folks, regardless of what that dumb rodent, or marsupial or whatever he is, does in Pennsylvania).
But winter up here in Western Washington has held hints of spring, and this week we've had some glory, and Janet walked out back and took some pictures, posted them on her blog, and one of them was so stunning that I stole it.
I asked her permission.
Puget Sound, looking westerly, looking lovely, looking toward spring and all those good things.
Photo by Janet Eaton, 2/1/2005
5:53:56 PM 
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