A great Science fiction film, but also one of the most realistic love stories I've seen!

Rating: Null/10 (25 January 2009)

'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' is a film full of unique ideas, characters, situations, and philosophy. It is one of the most alive films I've ever seen. It's a film so full of life and love and graceful quality. It is a film that is as ripe and as fresh as any of the best romantic comedies. It is, at times, incredibly funny. At other times, it's just simply heartbreaking. It doesn't matter if you've been in love or not, because you will get something personal out of this movie.
The film basically is about the human desire to want to erase unpleasant memories. In the case of this film, it is Joel Barish(Jim Carrey) who wants to annihilate the horrible memories of his ex-girlfriend, Clemintine(Kate Winslet). The film takes this premise to it's highest potential by placing the viewer in the mind of Joel as his memories are being wiped out. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet play their parts as perfectly as any on-screen couple has. While most of their scenes together are harrowing and unpleasant, they are full of truth and clarity. Jim Carrey has that subtle pacing of how to react to things in a nondiscriminatory way while Kate Winslet comes across as more authentic and blunt as she can be without going over-the-top. They both do fantastic.
The bulk of the film takes place in Joel's mind, as a matter-of-fact, and while this premise may sound like it is stretching credibility it still manages to achieve that rare feeling of nostalgia, chance, and hopefulness that we all have in our lives. The idea of losing these sorts of memories is a terrifying idea, but Michel Gondry, the director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, knows this and has strategically added a serious flaw in the film, not to make the film weaker, but to make the film funnier. Enter Patrick, Mary, and Stan, three people whose job it is to do the mind erasing. Throughout the course of the film, the character of Joel repeatedly regrets going through with the procedure and tries to escape the brainwashing. This causes these three people who are working on him to encounter technical problems with their equipment and even causes Joel to enter into a waking life state in which he is wide awake but his brain is completely asleep while his mind is being fried.
The problem with this is that it is only natural for someone to regret this sort of procedure while it's happening, so these three people should be used to doing this. Michel Gondry knows this and he knows that the audience knows this because he adds in a level of self-parody on top of all the mayhem. This is such a risky think for a director to try and pull off. Add to that the fact that the film is in non-chronological order, the character choice of Clementine getting her brain erased first, and a borderline manic subplot involving a secret love affair between two of the doctors and a love affair with of the doctors and Clementine and you have yourself a very complicated sounding film.
If you haven't seen the film yet, what I am telling you will go right over your head. Trust me when I say that this film is a lot easier to swallow than I'm making it sound. All of these elements are developed and played out very carefully and delicately, but not to the point where any of it becomes second nature. This is a real work of art. It is Michel Gondry's masterpiece, no question. The screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, as usual, is beautiful in it's simplicity. Michel Gondry really brought it to life though, and that is something of a miracle. Michel Gondry has the mind of a child. He's so full of life and love and his mind is so open to infinite possibilities. He has taken all of that, and, with the writing of Charlie Kaufman, crafted this beautiful and touching masterpiece of film-making, and I can't thank them enough for making it.