Incredible originality

Rating: 9/10 (25 September 2004)

Yes folks, Hollywood's produced an original film ! *gasp*
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind seems to be billed as a light-hearted bittersweet comedy, but the truth is much further from this.
Jim Carrey features in his joint best role to date (With the Truman Show), as a socially inadequate loner who takes an impulsive detour on the way to work one day, and meets Clementine on a beach in a resort called Montock.
Initially awkward around her, she gets into his life but events begin to get confusing as it emerges that she's had him erased from her memory.
To divulge more would spoil the plot, and it baffles me that IMDb's outline reveals aspects we don't find out till later.
This is a movie which relies on 3 crucial things: a strong sense of a psychological mystery, superb performances, particularly from the 2 leads, and a level of originality I don't remember seeing anywhere else.
These 3 combine to grip the viewer at all times and allow the story to unfold in a way which may seem confusing, but which forces the viewer to stick with it, intrigued to learn the truth behind what's going on.
The movie is aided by a very genuine performance from Carrey, who excels as Joey and continues to prove that Carrey's Liar Liar days are only one aspect of his repertoire. On the other hand we have the incredible Winslet. Her performance is exponentially more admirable given the fact she's an English actress with an absolutely faultless American accent. I forgot she *was* English such was the natural sound of her accent.
Other cast of Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood and Tom Wilkinson provide A-List backup but you can't help but feel they're all a bit wasted here with such comparatively minor roles. Particularly Dunst who's now surely, along with Wood, a leading lady.
Anyway, I nitpick. This is a great film with a lot of impressive elements to it. Maybe not the greatest film ever made, but premier league certainly.
Recommended.