Life is but a memory.

Rating: 10/10 (6 May 2004)

One of the things that has really surprised me about the movies that are coming out at the time of this writing is which ones are turning out to be good and which ones are turning out to be not so great. I haven't seen all of them yet, but it's pretty odd to me that the latest movie starring Jim Carrey - an actor who not long ago seemed doomed to never rise above rubber-faced, low-brow slapstick comedy - is one of the best movies in theaters, and if that weren't enough, the latest remake of a classic horror film, Dawn of the Dead, is getting better reviews than the newest Tom Hanks movie. Luckily, the 2004 Dawn of the Dead is spectacular, so getting better reviews than The Ladykillers doesn't speak badly of Tom Hanks' latest effort.
In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Carrey once again raises the bar of his own performance. This is probably the most evolved actor working today, having gone from the late-night television crap of In Living Color (bad) to Ace Ventura (goofy but funny) to The Cable Guy (which fell flat because the script was dumb, and Carrey's iconography was just not ready for such a dramatic character) to The Truman Show (good) to Man on the Moon (very good) to The Majestic (VERY good) to Bruce Almighty (goofy but also very good) and finally to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, arguably the most in depth and developed character he has ever played and by far his greatest film so far.
Jim Carrey plays Joel Barish, a man with difficulty not only in his relationships, but also in his overall interaction with other people. He lives such a lonely life that, by his own admission, he has a tendency to fall in love with any woman who shows him even the slightest bit of attention. Strangely enough, he happens to stumble into some sort of relationship with Clementine Kruczyinski (Kate Winslet), a woman who fits with someone like Joel about as well as Kate Winslet fits with a last name like Kruczyinski. Actually, I probably shouldn't say that, since there is something of a discrepancy between my own last name and my appearance. But the point is that Joel and Clementine could not really be more opposite. Joel is introverted and shy, while Clementine is outgoing enough to pursue a friendship with him despite his behavior, which initially shows something of a fear of even talking to her.
(spoilers) While it's true that they do not fit together in almost any way, it's a lot of what makes their relationship endearing (and it also provides a lot of what makes the early souring of that relationship more believable). The first downturn of their relationship is first suggested as Joel goes to visit Clementine and she `acts' like she had never even met him, and then it turns out that she has had him erased from her mind by this strange company that specializes in erasing painful or unwanted memories. Sure, this is not exactly the most jarring twist (you already knew what the movie was about, right?), but it's pretty clever how effective the twist is, at least in its simplicity and smallness, as well as the way it is first introduced in the plot. She has had him erased from her mind before the audience is told anything about this memory erasing company. Really the only thing turned upside down (besides Joel's and Clementine's respective grasps on reality) is that she wasn't ACTING like she didn't know him. She wasn't acting at all.
When Joel figures out what's going on, he decides to have Clementine erased from his own memory. I have a theory that he does this almost entirely for revenge against her, which may be part of the reason that he so desperately tries to call the whole thing off right in the middle of it. The larger reason being, however, that he has a better relationship with her in the cyberspace of his mind than he did in real life. Their interaction when they are physically together is much less pleasant than it is in Joel's mind, which was also more than likely true before either of them ever went to have their memories erased. Joel has fallen in love with Clementine, and the fact that they turn out to be completely incompatible does not change his dedication to her or his determination to keep her. She, on the other hand, does not fall for every person who shows her any attention.
Director Michel Gondry pays extraordinary attention to detail in his movie, probably the main thing that makes the psychological aspect of it so effective. He goes to great lengths to portray the cognitive experiences of memories and dreams as closely as possible to reality in the movie. Consider having a dream where you're in the future and reading the newspaper. You may or may not have had a dream like this (I have), but what would happen is very clearly reflected by events in the movie. I dreamed once that I was reading a newspaper about the presidential election results in November 2004. There was a picture of the winner, a huge headline announcing who the American president would be for the next four years, and a lengthy story detailing the events of the election process. As I looked at the newspaper, I remember staring at it intently, unable to focus on the photographs or quite concentrate enough on the words to read the story. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn't make out a single word or photograph.
This, in my theory, is my mind trying to fill in a part of my knowledge that I simply don't know yet, which is why I couldn't make out the words. People around me were also discussing the election results, but their words were a jumble because my mind doesn't know what to put there. All the information was right there in front of me in the newspaper, but my mind couldn't focus on it because, since the event has not happened yet, I simply don't know it. There are scenes in the movie that flawlessly reflect this. People's faces are blurred and distorted because they have been erased from memory, and their voices have been reduced to meaningless noises. They are right there, but Joel can't focus on them because his brain no longer has the file detailing what they look like. While I admit that this kind of mental experience may not be universal, it is extremely rare that I see a movie that so brilliantly reflects a common experience like this. Bravo.
The movie twists and turns and messes with chronological time so much that it is almost impossible to describe a chronological plot, but the primary focus of the film is on the workings of the human mind, as well as the vast importance that memories, both good and bad, have in our lives. Without memories, our lives are exactly like Joel finds his journal, just blank. It is a fascinating journey to watch Joel and Clementine racing through the labyrinth of his mind trying to outrun the company that is erasing the very world surrounding him. The movie is similar to the greatest film released in 2003, Big Fish, in that so much of it takes place inside the mind, so anything is possible. The restrictions of reality do not necessarily apply to what Director Michel Gondry can put in the movie. Joel and Clementine are both a little crazy, so anything could happen. I love it when movies are outrageous, but completely justifiably so, which doesn't happen often.
As if the movie wasn't outstanding enough, check THIS out. As you may or may not know, Jim Carrey is now one of the most famous actors currently working, and several years ago was honored with a gold star engraved in the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard. And can you guess what he and his daughter inscribed with their own fingers in the wet cement below his name, in front of a huge crowd of fans and television cameras?
`Merrily merrily merrily.'