Movie Reviews

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind revealed to me that Charlie Kaufman is the best, most original film writer working today. If you enjoyed Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, you're likely to appreciate Eternal Sunshine as well, as all of these films are quirky, original, and funny, but they are also very honest and sincere with their characters, who grow and learn, and despite being involved in very bizarre situations, remaining endearingly likeable.

The hero of Eternal Sunshine is Joel Barish (Jim Carrey), a quiet and reserved loner who suddenly finds himself attracted to a stranger he meets at a train station. The girl is Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet), and soon the two of them hit it off and begin a strong relationship. However, it soon turns sour, and each of them, independently, decides to undergo a new medical treatment that can wipe out all memories of any individual person you once knew. As Joel begins the treatment, he starts to have doubts about the whole process, and eventually tries to stop his memory wipe-out from occurring. To explain more would be to give away some of the cool parts of the film, so I'll just leave it at that. At its essence though, it's a film that explores what and how much our memories can mean to us -- the good ones and the bad.

Another nice thing about Kaufman's scripts is that he gives his secondary characters almost as much development and as many quirks as he does his main characters. The secondary players here are the employees of Lacuna Inc., the company performing the memory-erasing. Characters played by Elijah Wood, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo, and Kirsten Dunst are almost just as interesting as Carrey and Winslet, as they all have their own dramas which are fully explored in the film.

Yet another strong supporting character here is the special effects. This is not an "effects movie", but there are some incredible effects-laden scenes, and what makes them so amazing is how they are subtle enough not to draw too much attention to themselves as special effects, and, more importantly, how purposefully they work to illustrate the story, rather than being overwrought spectacles that happen to be strong together on only the thinnest of plots.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the best movies of the year so far, and if you've enjoyed any of Charlie Kaufman's other works (and maybe also if you enjoyed Punch-Drunk Love -- another film that seemed to have a similar feel), you owe it to yourself to see this one.