Just when you thought movie makers were running out of ideas

Rating: 9/10 (3 August 2004)

Just when you think that movie makers have finally run out of ideas, between all lame thrillers, ridiculous action movies and vomit-inducing romantic comedies, something as fresh, original, and pure as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" comes across. Thank you!
I have to say that I'm not a big fan of Charlie Kaufman's other work ("Being John Malkovich" was not interesting or funny, just weird) but here he has really outdone himself, as has the rest of the people involved in the movie. Jim Carrey once again shows that he can really act (as he did before in "The Truman Show"), Kate Winslet and Kirsten Dunst prove that they can do more than be the "damsel in distress" and even Elijah Wood seem to be able to distance himself from Frodo.
The real winner here is the script though. It succesfully avoids all the cliches and false sentiments that often plague modern movies and manages to deliver a truly touching story about real people and real emotions, while also being surprisingly funny at times. Also, in spite of the rather bizarre premise, the movie never comes across as too far-fetched or unbelievable.

What else is there to like? Well, a lot. The cinematography is beautiful (the scenes in which Joel's memories are erased are very creative), the movie plays around with illusion and reality in a really interesting way (it's left to the viewer to figure out what exactly is going on. This never gets as complicated as in, say, "Mulholland Drive", but I like movies that don't spell everything out for you).
The only complaint I have about "Sunshine" is that is seems to slightly run out of steam near the end. It's like the writers couldn't choose between a happy or a sad ending and delayed the choice as long as possible. Ultimately, I can more than live with the ending they choose, but they could have chosen it a bit sooner.
But that's a really minor complaint. Apart from that, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is an incredibly well-made, very creative, and genuinely touching movie. Highly recommended.