Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2003)

Rating: 10/10 (15 November 2008)

Joel Barrish (Jim Carrey) plays a shy loner in a failing relationship with Clementine (Kate Winslet), his perky and blue/orange/green-haired polar opposite (it changes throughout the film). One day, "as a lark," Clementine decides to have her relationship with Joel professionally erased from her memory at a hole-in-the-wall clinic in New York City (you can find everything there). In response, Joel also decides to erase their relationship from his memory.
What follows is the story of Joel and Clementine's relationship told backwards from the point of view of Joel's imagination, as he slowly begins to realize how much he cares about Clementine, and that losing his memory of her would be like losing a piece of himself as well.
Every single actor in the film is outstanding; Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, and Tom Wilkinson all give the greatest performances I've ever seen from each of them. This is the greatest Charlie Kaufman screenplay I've ever seen. This is the greatest thing I've seen from Michael Gondry. The ending is profound and moving, and allows you to use your imagination and interpretation without being open-ended for the sake of gimmicks. The film has a classic message which can be summarized by three words (love conquers all), but is never the least bit cliché. Instead, you are in for a totally unique and fresh experience when you watch this film. I urge you all, see it now.
A masterpiece, and one of the greatest films of the decade.
10/10