Speaking of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:

I am not prepared to say this in any way approaching 100%, but I will say that the trailer for that film – the first one – is one of the best trailers I have ever seen in my life. I was in the theatre, seeing something else, and I saw the trailer (see it below the jump) – and had one of those voracious greedy responses that I get all too rarely when it comes to current-day movies. I MUST SEE THIS. NOW. I wanted to whip out my calendar and put the release date in bold letters into my personal notes so I would be SURE not to miss it. I felt I couldn’t wait. But why? What was it that got me – so completely?

That’s the art of a really good trailer. The trailer for Eternal Sunshine doesn’t tell you too much. That in and of itself means it should be given an honorary Oscar, just for how it bucks the annoying trend.

It starts with a faux promotional film for Lacuna Incorporated, the fictional company in the movie that erases painful memories. We see Tom Wilkinson telling us how it works, and how wonderful it will be when your pain has been erased. But the way it is filmed – with multiple images of him, the screen splitting off and multiplying, gives a more comedic and also surreal feeling to it. Almost immediately, just through the style of the trailer, not through any dialogue, we the audience are told: Don’t be too literal here. What you are about to see is going to be different. Not just the movie, but the trailer itself.

And that is really the only TALKING that goes on in the trailer. The rest of it is more like a music video (with, yes, one of my favorite songs of all time – “Mr. Blue Sky” by ELO – a perfect choice!) with strange surreal images – a bed in the snow, elephants walking down 42nd Street, people disappearing from the main floor of Grand Central … Jim Carrey in an oversized kitchen … what am I looking at? What is this movie??

I MUST SEE IT.

The only clue we have to what we are seeing is Tom Wilkinson’s words at the opening – and the image of throwing a plastic brain into the trash can.

That’s all we get.

The trailer doesn’t lead us through the plot, as though we all in the audience need to know beforehand EXACTLY what we will see … it just shows us images, some from a nightmare (the world crumbling), some just from a funny dream (rain falling inside the house) … all to the accompaniment of the insistent positive catchy ELO tune.

One of the best trailers I’ve ever seen.

It set up my expectations for the film, and what a joy, what a surprise … to have the movie FAR exceed my expectations. It wasn’t just a good movie. It was a profound film, one that I often reference in my head, as I maneuver through my life, with my own painful memories that come up from time to time. I think things like: Would I get rid of this memory if I could? What would change if I no longer had THIS to think about?

In the video essay below, Matt talks about how he knows when a film has really gotten to him when it shows up in his dreams.

The same is true for me.

And it’s all there in the trailer. Without anything being given away.

Bravo.

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