Spot on acting + Spot on direction = One Phenomenal Film

Rating: 10/10 (30 March 2004)

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", from director Michel Gondry, ask the question that while you can erase someone from your memory, can you remove them from your heart? It is also the first entry into the "Oscar friendly" category of movies, and the expectations are very high going in. Would the film be able to live up to such expectations? A resounding yes, and then some.
Jim Carrey stars as Joel Barish, a lonely middle aged man who is awe struck to find out that his girlfriend Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) has had all memory of him erased from her brain. In a knee jerk reaction, he agrees to have the same process done of her. However, half way through the process Joel decides that he doesn't want to forget Clementine and attempts to fight back. Most of the film consists of a retrospective look back at the good and bad times of their rocky relationship, through Joel's eyes. Joining Winslet and Carrey are Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood and Tom Wilkinson, who play the staff of Lacuna Inc., the company that carry out the procedure. The film goes back and forth between the conscious realm in which Lacuna is eliminating Joel's memories and inside his brain.
Words cannot describe the emotional rollercoaster that one undergoes while watching "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". It is a brilliantly blended mix of comedy, drama, romance and suspense. Jim Carrey does well by this as the star, finally giving a completely solid dramatic performance. Unlike 1998's "The Truman Show" in which Jim Carrey's slapstick was a drain on the film itself, there is something to be admired for his dead pan delivery in this film. Instead of trying to impress the audience by overacting, he is very poignant and the scenes that are supposed to be very meaningful are successful.
Kate Winslet is perhaps the most talented actress in Hollywood, and continues to impress in this supporting role. She plays the free spirited almost modern day hippy character with complete perfection. It is amazing to watch her transform from happy and energetic one moment to raving lunatic the next. Hopefully justice is done next February and she can finally get that Oscar of hers. Don't worry Kate, fourth time's a charm I've heard!
The acting is obviously superb in this movie, but Michel Gondry's unconstrained and experimentative directing is also worth noting. His use of vibrant coloring and quick camera movement give the film a very involving first hand feeling. The constant use of the handycam is very all involving for the viewer, and I suppose that this is exactly what is needed in such a personal movie. His work on the dream sequences is incredible as well. I can't describe exactly what he did, but it was highly successful. It seemed as if you were inside the characters head.
On the whole, this is one of the best films ever made. I'm not sure how high it is yet, it will take time and more viewings, but it is definitely one fantastic movie. I'm sitting here trying to find ways it could have been better, but I can't. It was really the absolute best this film could possibly have been. When you take an interesting concept and make a flawless film, you get one movie that has pretty much rendered next year's Oscars more or less irrelevant.
***** (A+) (9.5/10)