Connecting with ourselves through film

Questions from "self" unit:
1) Is there a self that I can control?
There can be two ways to answer this question. The way that one may think about themselves can be based both on his or her surroundings and how they put their mind towards answering certain questions. One's mind can control some of the actions that a person can make on a daily basis that can turn either into a good result or a bad result.

2) What forces shape our sense of self?
The type of friends that a person may choose to hang out with can influence the decisions and actions that they may choose to take. For example, the person who is hanging out with their group of friends "follows" everyone's actions may just "go with the flow" and not put in any input with the decisions.

Film Critique Questions:
1) Describe the most critical scene. What made this scene so important? What overarching message/principle does the scene convey? What were the cinematic techniques that made it work well? If you don't think it was successful, what made it ineffective? What would have improved it?
The most critical scene of the movie would have to be Jim Carrey's character: "Joel Barish" when he receives the accidental note about Clementine's decision to erase all of his existence from her mind. I think this because it describes the entire conflict of the film by flash backing to all of the times that Joel had with Clementine. I think that the techniques that the film director represented the flashback sequences greatly.

2)How does the film end (what is the last thing the viewer sees?) Why?
The story ended with the final scene of Joel and Clementine in the hallway, in which they appeared to have agreed to give their relationship one more try.There is debate as to what the repeated scene of Joel and Clem playing in the snow right before the credits means. In an interview also included with the published shooting script, Gondry said he wanted the scene of them playing in the snow to loop throughout the credits. This desire apparently sprang from the initial intent (expressed in an early script) that Joel and Clementine spent the rest of their lives meeting, falling in and out of love, getting their memories erased, and then repeating the cycle. However, Gondry said that this was not done, because it would ultimately distract from the credits.In addition, several photo-stills that were from footage that wound up on the cutting room floor show Joel and Clementine sitting together on the steps to Joel's building with their arms around each other (and dressed in the same clothes that they wore in the hallway scene). It is unclear whether these were pictures taken for promotional purposes or from footage cut from the final scene at Joel's apartment.

Photo taken from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/martyn/87345479/