"destruction is an obstruction for construction"

I'm always about 6 months behind when it comes to "the" movie to see. I think that the only Oscar-nominated movie I've seen for this year is Little Miss Sunshine. I just never watch tv and never see previews so most of my film-related info comes from the reviews in Now magazine and more than once, I've gone to Queen Video, stared at the racks for 40 minutes, and left empty-handed. Last week though, my roommate came home with The Science of Sleep and I loved it. Same director as Eternal Sunshine and watching it gave me the same feeling about how tenuous our grip on reality seems to be, when it comes to what is "real" and what is perceived by our brains/hearts.

Stephane can't seem to tell the difference between what he dreams and what he lives while awake. In real life he has a job cutting and pasting together calendar mock-ups, in his dreams he is the over-lord of everyone in his office and has his own talk show. With an egg carton and corrugated cardboard set. The special-effects are low-tech, stop-animation stuff, and amount to Stephane building his grandiose ideas and dreams literally out of garbage. I really like that metaphor for the astronomical heights of success (monetary and other) that are expected of us, and the obsolete tools we're told to use in order to get there. Am I being melodramatic?



I like that the closest and most intimate relationships Stephane has with other people are in his dreams and his real life interactions with people are painfully awkward to watch. I'm shy, I totally relate. I also like that he is a drummer, in a band, in a bear suit.