Like Watching Charlie Kaufman Grow Up

Rating: 10/10 (28 March 2004)

Charlie Kaufman's writing is always clever, but this time he's one-upped himself by making something simultaneously bizarre and emotionally engaging. It seemed like his earlier movies were clever for the sake of cleverness, but 'Eternal Sunshine' manages to dazzle you (or anyway, it dazzled me) with it's originality and it's poignancy. The fact that this movie was able to wrap such profound loss, emotional tenderness, and hope in such a self-consciously stylized package illustrates the incredible talent of the people behind it.
Everything fit. The acting was wonderful, and my girlfriend said as we were leaving that she felt like crying at the end, but wasn't quite sure why. It didn't matter. The actors knew why, and they were able to communicate it. But even the choices in the camera work and editing - from bizarre and near-constant jumpcuts to a perpetually wandering focus - supported the story and intent of the film, where so often techniques like that are used simply for the sake of using them.
The movie's not perfect (I got the impression that Elijah Wood's part was significantly cut down; it seemed to start something interesting but not finish), but 'Eternal Sunshine' is an extremely well-made, resonant movie, that, if nothing else, is an example of how the style of a movie can underscore and even elevate its content.