Unforgettable

Rating: 9/10 (16 March 2011)

Eternal Sunshine is a philosophical analysis of the nature of love and relationships. It reflects very well the changing emotions associated with falling in love and the ups and downs of personal relationships, and how unnecessary it is to erase our emotional past to survive. None of this is said or discussed in the movie, as this is a metaphorical film that uses the visual narrative to approach these points.
Eternal Sunshine is one of those movies that many people would see twice to fully catch all the details because the editing and what happens in the film is complex since there are three different time moments, narrated in not chronological order, sometimes overlapping each other. It is not a film for simple minded people or those who have to have everything digested and masticated before presented to them. This film needs of an attentive attention and mental involvement.
Jim Carrey surprises every body with a role that shows what a great actor he is, and how versatile too. He's superb as Joel, a lonely insecure and depressed guy who tends to get involved with women who are the opposite, and how he faces love, abandonment, rejection, loneliness, companionship, etc. Also excellent (and outside of their usual roles) is Kate Winslet in her role as Clementine, a cheeky cheerful girl addicted to flashy hair dyes, who is attracted to boring men.
The lyricism of the music, the surreal scenes, the poetic cinematography, the part of the movie showing Joel efforts to preserve the memories of the past he initially wanted to destroy, the fact that the special effects are no such a thing but camera tricks and the result of a meticulous preparation and tampering of the movie sets, adds even more artistic value to this unique piece. The director and the editor of the film really deserve a big praise, as the movie is indebted to them beyond belief.
The only flaws I saw in the movie are the little romance mini-stories related to the technicians and doctor of the Lacuna Clinic, which do not contribute much to a film that otherwise would have been perfect, and the outcome linked to those actions could have been presented in a different way.
I would not call this movie a comedy, but a light drama.
Eternal Sunshine is a magical, unique and unforgettable movie. A piece of art, really.