A love story with a twist.

Rating: Null/10 (19 August 2004)

Another (literal) trip into the human psyche, ESOTSM is a romantic drama/comedy that feels like a close companion to Being John Malkovich. Basically a love story with a twist (mind erasing) manages to score despite a plot-wise light script, but with a visually arresting style, and some wonderful performances.
Gondry's directing gives the film a claustrophobic, angst-ridden look that together with the sterile settings, perfectly capture Carrey's feelings after being dumped by girlfriend Winslet. The film looks very low budget, but during the journey through Carrey's mind, Gondry employs some impressive, bizarre effects.
Like You Can Count On Me (another film I can heartily recommend) Spotless relies heavily on great acting in depicting everyday life. Carrey does what he does best and skips his manic spasms in favour of a very low key performance as loser Joel. Winslet's Clementine, on the other hand, is a frantic, energetic girl, that's not always easy to like, but Winslet is simply stunning in the role, and pulls of another great performance. The rest of the cast is equally good and proves that you can come a long way with real actors.
Overall, the film should appeal to those who liked Kaufman's previous efforts, and who are in the mood for a nice story about a love affair that's not necessarily always straight forward.