Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Director: Michel Gondry
Cast: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo.
Cinematographer: Ellen Kuras
Music: John Brion
Year of Release: 2004
God bless Charlie Kaufman. The man is undeniably a genius. Every one of his screenplays has brought something fresh and innovative to modern American cinema. If you?re familiar with his previous cinematic interpretations including Being John Malkovich and Adaptation and loved them, then you?ll undoubtedly fall head over heels with this film. This exultant reviewer surely did.
Successfully breaking conventions is the one thing I like a film to do more than anything else. I like to be challenged, drawn in, possessed, grabbed hold of, shook to the point of exhaustion but ultimately satisfied with the experience. And there are many ways that this can be done. It can be confrontational, educational, and in the case of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, personal. Something individual resonated with me on this film that I couldn?t help but feel in the complete power of the filmmaker. Will it ring true for you? That all depends on how you?ve tasted life and relationships.
And that is what this film is all about - personal relationships. What happens when you break up with someone, what memories you have for that person after their gone, and how you deal with those memories. Is it the person you loved or just the memory of them that you find so appealing? Are the things you initially despise about someone things that, in time, you end up loving? Of course, being a Kaufman script, any sense of convention gets thrown out the window. Rather than focusing on the traditional formula of boy meets girl, boy gets girl, they break up, boy wants girl back, Kaufman spins the story in all sorts of directions so you never know what to expect next. Where Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind also differs from the mountain of clichéd saccharine romantic comedies out in the multiplexes today, is that at its heart it feels genuine. Sure the structure of the story is unconventional, the characters atypical but it still manages to capture relationships both sincerely and accurately. Nothing is sugar-coated here because it?s obvious Kaufman expects more from his audience.
Much of the success of the film comes from the synergy between director Michel Gondry and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. Their previous outing 2001?s Human Nature failed to impress me because it seemed continuously disjointed and vague. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind feels like the two unique talents have finally merged into a cohesive whole. Gondry?s rich visual tapestry helps bring out the idiosyncrasies of Kaufman?s superbly crafted screenplay and vice versa. Hopefully we?ll get to see more projects from these two interesting voices in the future.
But it?s not just the filmmakers that make this film such a joy to watch. Jim Carrey finally finds a role where he?s less of a caricature and more a human being. Here he?s more withdrawn and self-effacing than boisterous and larger-than-life. Those who love Jim Carrey?s more outrageous affairs will be disappointed. Kate Winslet pars with Carrey every step of the way and shows just what a talent she is. Clementine Kruczynski is wonderful creation and Winslet brings to life all her eccentricities. Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood and Tom Wilkinson are uniformly excellent in supporting roles but have just enough screen time to give their characters greater substance.
Overall, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is film for anyone looking for an alternative to the traditional Hollywood romantic comedy formula. If you enjoy films where the reward is something unexpected yet strangely familiar and are open to stories that take a different approach, then you?ll find yourself appreciating this film. Personally, it?s my favourite film of 2004 so far and can already see it sitting proudly in my DVD collection.
