Three Movies to Match Your Mood

Photo Credits: Dim the House Lights

By Sam Goldings ‘24

Almost everyone loves a good movie, but living a busy Milton life doesn’t make it easy to watch many. If you want a memorable film experience for your next movie night, consider the following 3 picks for when you want to laugh, think, or cry. 

My pick for laughter is the 2004 film Little Miss Sunshine, starring Steve Carrel, Paul Dano, and Toni Collette. The movie follows a dysfunctional family as they travel across the country, bringing the nine-year-old Olive to a beauty pageant she got into. Each with their unique selection of problems, the family members include Olive, her unsuccessful workaholic father, her mother stressed over a suicidal brother, an older son who’s taken a vow of silence, and a Grandpa addicted to drugs. Despite the characters’ collective struggles through addiction, body image, heartbreak, and loss, the movie maintains its comedy throughout, painting both a beautiful and hilarious image of the Hoover family. Through fantastic acting and writing, the movie is a nonstop parade of excitement and emotion, culminating in a worthwhile watch. 

Next, if you’re searching for a complex movie to ponder over, powerful in its deep exploration of the human condition, look no further than Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa. A stop motion animation, Anomalisa follows Micheal, a motivational speaker, as he visits Cincinnati. One of the glaringly strange parts of this movie is its cast, namely that there are only three voice actors. Micheal (David Thewlis), Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and everyone else, all played by Tom Noonan. Not only do all side characters have the same voice, but they also have the exact same face; they present Micheal with his main obstacle: finding someone whom he can connect to, someone who is different. That person appears at first to be Lisa, who has a unique face and voice. This sparks an obsession in Micheal, who strives to woo Lisa simply because she has a distinct voice. As the movie progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that Micheal has a severe mental illness. His actions grow more and more irrational in his desperate endeavor to find someone with a unique face and voice. Also not without its comedy, the movie balances its most tense moments with a special sense of anti-humor. A rich tapestry of the human mind, Anomalisa takes the viewer on a journey through the mind of a clearly unhinged protagonist, leading to a fantastically thoughtful movie. 

Finally, if you’re in the mood for a sad, romantic movie, try Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Another film by Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine centers around a brand new clinic that offers a memory removal service designed to lessen the impact of a difficult breakup. The main character, Joel (Jim Carrey), discovers that his ex-girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet), underwent this procedure, completely erasing their history together. Heartbroken, Joel elects to have his memories removed as well. During the memory removal, Joel suddenly decides to hold onto his past with Clementine. The movie covers Joel’s journey through his own subconscious  fighting to keep hold of the memory of his broken relationship. As Joel battles his own mind, Patrick is dating Clementine and using details from her forgotten relationship with Joel to trick her into an irresistible sense of love. Tackling themes of love, heartbreak, and empathy, Eternal Sunshine is the perfect love story and a profoundly sad movie.