Dream-like art

Rating: 9/10 (7 November 2008)

My embarrassing confession is that lately I've been having trouble following movies. I was worried for a while that maybe I was becoming dumber, like I couldn't understand great films any more. But maybe it was because I stopped following certain movies because they actually weren't that great, and hence they lost my interest. I say that because two movies I've watched lately, Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) and now Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), both of which are complex movies, actually did manage to hold my attention and I loved both of them.
So what's good here? Although the movie is categorized at the local video store as a comedy, I was looking for something heavier- a serious drama- and this hit the spot. There's little funny here; at most it's a drama with some comic relief. The writing is smooth and that's no surprise because it's from Charlie Kaufman, the man behind Adaptation (2002), who with that film and this one, is establishing himself as one of Hollywood's best writers. The acting is good. The storyline is interesting- it's about a couple named Joel and Clementine (played by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet) growing unhappy with each other, so they go to a special clinic where they can have their memory of each other erased. But during the procedure, Joel soon regrets his decision to erase Clementine and desperately tries to hide her deep in his memories. The way this unfolds is very dream-like, with surreal sequences as things in the memories begin to disappear and blur. This took some imagination and you have to admire it. The movie won an Oscar for writing and probably deserves more recognition. It's a latter day classic.