Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Directed by: Michel Gondry
Written by: Charlie Kaufman
Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo

Have you ever regretted something in your past that you just wish you could erase from your mindforever?Sure you have. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, writer Charlie Kaufman explores exactly what might happen if there was a medical procedure to delete past relationships and events from your mind. It can’t fix those past mistakes, but it sure makes it easier to live with them right?In lending believability to this strange concept, he manages to delve into many of the intricacies surrounding love and life, and answer that age old question: is ignorance really bliss?

The title of the film comes from a famous poem by Alexander Pope (as mentioned in the movie), and its clear that only Kaufman could weave such an obscure reference into a screenplay and give it some sort of profound meaning.People who have been following Charlie Kaufman’s screenwriting career may know him simply as “the guy who writes weird shit”, but it is his ability to pull certain poignant moments (and a few good laughs) out of the weirdness that makes his work special. He is best known for his collaboration with director Spike Jonze on Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, but Eternal Sunshine marks his second time teaming up with the equally talented Michel Gondry. This film is not quite as off-the-wall and surreal as Human Nature was; it works on a level that most people can relate to and is at its core a romantic comedy (although I guess most of Kaufman’s movies could probably be called that).This is not to say that Eternal Sunshine does not have its share of bizarre moments however.Seeing Jim Carrey play a midget version of himself in his childhood memories was at least as odd as seeing John Malkovich enter his own head… if not moreso.

Carrey turns in a great performance here, once again putting his talents to better use than slapstick comedy and shaping his career into something he should really be proud of.He plays Joel Barish, a quiet, withdrawn fellow who meets the impulsive and vibrant Clementine (Kate Winslet) and together they fall in love. Unfortunately they alsoeventually fall out of love, and Clementine decides on a whim to take advantage of the services offered by Lacuna Corporation to have him erased from her memory. When Joel discovers this through a friend (David Cross), he finds it so upsetting that he decides to undergo the exact same procedure.

The meat of the movie takes place with Joel unconscious and being operated on by a group of irresponsible young technicians (Elijah Wood, Kirsten Dunst, and Mark Ruffalo).While they goof off around his prone body, his mind runs through memories of moments spent with Clementine, but at the same time he slowly starts to gain consciousness of things the technicians are saying and doing nearby and reality seeps through.

As you might guess, the resulting film is a little chaotic at times. The story is told through a disjointed chronology, though it’s not as much of a jigsaw puzzle as you might think.Michel Gondry is hailed by many as a filmmaking genius and pioneer (it is widely held that he invented the Matrix “bullet time” concept in a commercial he did many years ago), and the many strange techniques and camera angles he uses in this movie only offer more proof of his raw talent and wild creativity. He submerges us in Joel’s mind with all kinds of visual effects, camera tricks, and audio manipulation, giving a moviegoing experience that’s not to be missed.

Although a movie as original as this really has no comparison, I did find myself reminded numerous times of P.T. Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love throughout. Part of it is the way in which you feel yourself being sucked into the confusion and insanity, helped along by the schizophrenic musical score provided by Jon Brion (who also did the music for PDL).Also, in the same way that PDL disappointed people who thought it would be a typical dumbass Sandler comedy, Eternal Sunshine will likely cause a lot of Jim Carrey fans to walk away from it feeling confused and let down. Carrey’s mainstream comedy is still a huge box officedraw, as Bruce Almighty showed, butthis is potentially the best performance of his career (even moreso than The Truman Show or Man on the Moon), and I hope that more than a few people get to see it.

Eternal Sunshine is a beautiful movie, and the kind of thing you want to watch over and over again (I intend to). With the number of talented people involved I suppoe it goes without saying that something cool came out of it all. No doubt it will be labelled as too “artsy fartsy” for a large number of the population but I also see this as being Kaufman’s most accessible movie to date. Take a chance on this one, because you’re not likely to see anything else as unique and original in theatres this year.– Sean