If you're looking for a movie that feels genuine and different, you're in luck.

Rating: 8/10 (6 September 2010)

"What a loss to spend that much time with someone, only to find out that she's a stranger."
Would you want to erase your most painful experiences from your memory, if you could? Heartbreaks, disappointments, regrets, all gone over the course of a night? Is there any value in memories from a failed relationship?
Feel free to come to your own answers about all that, but Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has it's own POV to share. After the relationship between Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) comes to a messy end, she decides to have it all deleted from her mind at a clinic that specializes in that sort of thing. Upon finding out that he's essentially been erased, Joel opts to have the same procedure done. As he's lying comatose, trapped in his own disappearing memories of the woman that, for a time, he loved, he starts to wonder if he has made the right decision. Maybe some memories of Clementine are worth holding on to.
I like this movie. It's smart, it's thoughtful, it's inventive, it's harsh, and it's touching. The cinematography is beautiful, and all the little transitions and visual flourishes that happen as Joel loses his memories are pretty cool. Winslet is as great as always, Carrey pulls off an excellent, understated (for him) performance, and a bevy of solid supporting actors are present in the side-stories that compliment the primary tale of Joel and Clementine.
My personal favorite thing about the movie was seeing a relationship in reverse, from ending to beginning. You see the cracks shrink and smooth over, but the seeds were there from the very start. Is it worth it to try again, armed with the both the knowledge of what to avoid, and the knowledge that history may inevitably repeat itself? I don't know. But, I do know that this movie is well worth the hour and forty-eight minutes it takes to watch it. Recommended.