An explosion of visual flare, with a touching story at its heart

Rating: 8/10 (12 January 2005)

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is a movie you have to see. Well, okay, lot's of people won't like it, but that always happens. If you have a mind for creative, unconventional film, you'll like it. Maybe even love it. If it weren't for the magnificent "Napoleon Dynamite" this would be the most creative, unconventional film of the year. Okay. So it's the second most.
Of course, Charlie Kaufman wrote it, so we should expect that, I guess. Kaufman's first widely liked film was "Being John Malkovich", in which John Cusack and others venture into John Malkovich's mind and wreak all sorts of havoc. His second (and best) was "Adaptation", which was supposed to be based on a Susan Orlean book but then became a quirky drama about Charlie Kaufman  yes, the same Charlie Kaufman  and his deep personal problems. After these two films, people would just sit there, long after the movie ended, thinking "Huh?". But the films were just so intriguing and different that those same people loved them, too.
And now comes another abstract, quirky creative film. This time it's directed by Michael Gondry, not Spike Jonze, proving that directors other than Jonze can successfully work with Kaufman's material. The film starts with Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) waking up in bed, then spontaneously ditching work to take a walk on a beach. He sees a woman far away. He sees her again, in a restaurant, then at the train station, then in the train. Then she talks to him, introducing herself as Clementine (Kate Winslet).
They like each other, they hit it off and spend a whole day together. Then a few things happen, and we see that their relationship has ended badly and Clementine has impulsively went to a rag-tag business called "Lacuna Inc." to have her memory of Joel erased. Joel is shattered when he finds out, and so he Joel goes to the business to check it out.
The technology is impressive, but it is a strange little office, run by the soft-spoken Dr. Howard (Tom Wilkinson) and with a team that practically worships him, made up of Stan (Mark Ruffalo), Patrick (Elijah Wood) and secretary Mary (Kirsten Dunst).
Joel asks for the procedure to be done, and so Stan and Patrick are sent to his apartment at night after Joel's been drugged to go to work on him. They attach a large metal dome to his head as he lies in bed, set up a computer and start. These scenes are pretty funny, because it's surprising how the team using this fantastic new technology is so detached and incompetent. Stan and Patrick drink and talk about women and whatnot, and then Mary comes over and they get high and do...well, nothing suitable for a successful workplace.
The bulk of the movie takes place in Joel's mind, where his subconscious (in the form of Jim Carrey) tries to fight the process and hold onto as many great memories of Clementine as he can. We get many episodes showing great (and not-so-great) moments in the past of their relationship, where Joel is simultaneously either enacting in them, watching them, or trying to break free to save his wonderful memories. Confusing, I know.
So Joel and Clementine (the Clementine made up of the memories in Joel's mind, not the real Clementine) come up with a plan to hide in memories in which Clementine was not present, and we get many scenes of Joel as a child, or in a miniature child's body, or...well, it's bizarre, but bizarrely effective.
Back in the real world Dr. Howard is called over to solve the problem, and we see the real Clementine breaking down, and also being romanced by Patrick...lots of other stuff happens, but that's all I can explain. See the movie and you'll get it.
The film has been widely praised because of its fantastic portrayal of dream states (which I don't think are as good as those in "Waking Life" but hey, that's just me) but the film is primarily about its characters. Sure, the dream states are great, I loved how things are crumbling or disappearing around Joel as his memories are being erased, but it's more stupendous because of its characters, which all are fully realized and perfectly acted.
I have a few qualms with the film, my first and most important one being that there are many romantic scenes with Joel and the Clem of his mind, but they aren't effective or sincere because this is not the real Clem, and nothing is or can possibly be accomplished when Joel asks her "Can't we give it another go?". The scenes with the real Clem and the real Joel are definitely the most touching. Also, sometimes the dream scenes feel repetitive, and there are a few moments where there are so many things happening at once that the focus is momentarily gone and the movie is just too frantic.
It has a heart at its center though, a wonderfully imaginative screenplay and fantastic performances from Jim Carrey (at his best here), Winslet, Wilkinson, Dunst, Ruffalo and Wood. The flaws are forgotten soon after you watch the film, and the strange albeit touching story stays with you. It's good.
8/10.