A Michel Gondry film works best when in reference to the man.
After meeting with him his work makes infinitely more sense. Talking to Gondry is like listening to a small child telling an extremely dirty joke. He will say some very blue stuff, like repeatedly referencing the fact that he has an abnormally large male organ, but he says it in such a way that it seems like he has only just overheard the 'real' adults talking about it and is emulating them.
His films are incredibly personal. Stephane, the protagonist, (I would hesitate to call him a hero) of his newest piece, "The Science of Sleep" is more or less Gondry gone awry. He is a man-child so wrapped up in his own head that he cannot understandmuch less interact withthe world around him. He also just might be a genius and a visual poet if he ever found the right outlet.
"The Science of Sleep" is a terribly romantic film about incredibly flawed people. And there is more than a little bit of Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" with a dada twist to be found. There are lots of heady ideas about consciousness sanity or the lack thereof, but at its' core the film is about art and the creative process.
Many people, myself included, found this film derivate of "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" when it was first released in theaters. But after sitting on it a few months and seeing it again, the delineation point between Kaufman and Gondry becomes clear. Certainly this is a companion piece to 'Eternal Sunshine' but it has its' own charms and quirks. Gondry had the initial idea for 'Eternal Sunshine' and this is probably exactly the film he would have made without Kaufman's interference.
Kaufman is the opposite of Gondry in many ways. The former is a world weary traveler alienated because of his art and seemingly obsessed with psychoanalytical theory. The latter is utterly childlike and more interested in dreams themselves than the reasons behind them. Because of this, Kaufman's films pack a huge emotional wallop while Gondry's are closer to an ornate and mechanized plaything. When the two work together, it is mind blowing. But taken separately, their interpretations of similar constructs are equally compelling. Someday, 'Eternal Sunshine' and "The Science of Sleep" will make a wonderful double feature at a revival house.
Unfortunately, though he has a breathtaking talent for the visual, Gondry is a much less disciplined writer than Kaufman. He chooses to go for the weird and wonderful, "the beautiful and the sublime" in place of grounding the characters in the emotional reality that is essential to any film than wants to be so willfully surreal. The characters and the world can be insane, but there must be a core of catharsis for the unreality in which they live. But in spite of stand out work from a cast headed by Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg, the universe never feels tangible.
Bernal comes off as creepy. Not the fractured genius creepy that his 'Disaster calendar' tries to imply, but rather a sort of rapist creepy. There is a scene in which he sneaks into Gainsbourg's apartment and then sits in the dark waiting for her. Moments like this make Bernal an untrustworthy, and thus, unlikable lead.
But there are certain scenes when everything coalesces into an emotionally satisfying whole. When Bernal and Gainsbourg start to create their own fantasy world, the joy and suspension of the laws of reality is earned and heart warming. Bernal's dreams are mostly charming and his waking interactions with his co-workers are delightfully weird. There is much to appreciate in this film, and it definitely improves upon multiple viewings, but like last years "A Scanner Darkly" it never really seems to get where it is trying to go.
All the same, it is a beautiful, if only marginally successful, work of art.
After meeting with him his work makes infinitely more sense. Talking to Gondry is like listening to a small child telling an extremely dirty joke. He will say some very blue stuff, like repeatedly referencing the fact that he has an abnormally large male organ, but he says it in such a way that it seems like he has only just overheard the 'real' adults talking about it and is emulating them.
His films are incredibly personal. Stephane, the protagonist, (I would hesitate to call him a hero) of his newest piece, "The Science of Sleep" is more or less Gondry gone awry. He is a man-child so wrapped up in his own head that he cannot understandmuch less interact withthe world around him. He also just might be a genius and a visual poet if he ever found the right outlet.
"The Science of Sleep" is a terribly romantic film about incredibly flawed people. And there is more than a little bit of Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" with a dada twist to be found. There are lots of heady ideas about consciousness sanity or the lack thereof, but at its' core the film is about art and the creative process.
Many people, myself included, found this film derivate of "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" when it was first released in theaters. But after sitting on it a few months and seeing it again, the delineation point between Kaufman and Gondry becomes clear. Certainly this is a companion piece to 'Eternal Sunshine' but it has its' own charms and quirks. Gondry had the initial idea for 'Eternal Sunshine' and this is probably exactly the film he would have made without Kaufman's interference.
Kaufman is the opposite of Gondry in many ways. The former is a world weary traveler alienated because of his art and seemingly obsessed with psychoanalytical theory. The latter is utterly childlike and more interested in dreams themselves than the reasons behind them. Because of this, Kaufman's films pack a huge emotional wallop while Gondry's are closer to an ornate and mechanized plaything. When the two work together, it is mind blowing. But taken separately, their interpretations of similar constructs are equally compelling. Someday, 'Eternal Sunshine' and "The Science of Sleep" will make a wonderful double feature at a revival house.
Unfortunately, though he has a breathtaking talent for the visual, Gondry is a much less disciplined writer than Kaufman. He chooses to go for the weird and wonderful, "the beautiful and the sublime" in place of grounding the characters in the emotional reality that is essential to any film than wants to be so willfully surreal. The characters and the world can be insane, but there must be a core of catharsis for the unreality in which they live. But in spite of stand out work from a cast headed by Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg, the universe never feels tangible.
Bernal comes off as creepy. Not the fractured genius creepy that his 'Disaster calendar' tries to imply, but rather a sort of rapist creepy. There is a scene in which he sneaks into Gainsbourg's apartment and then sits in the dark waiting for her. Moments like this make Bernal an untrustworthy, and thus, unlikable lead.
But there are certain scenes when everything coalesces into an emotionally satisfying whole. When Bernal and Gainsbourg start to create their own fantasy world, the joy and suspension of the laws of reality is earned and heart warming. Bernal's dreams are mostly charming and his waking interactions with his co-workers are delightfully weird. There is much to appreciate in this film, and it definitely improves upon multiple viewings, but like last years "A Scanner Darkly" it never really seems to get where it is trying to go.
All the same, it is a beautiful, if only marginally successful, work of art.