If you could forget it all...

Rating: 10/10 (25 January 2014)

I vividly remember the first time I saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I was a sophomore in high school, and I didn't know movies at all. Then I went to see this movie with some of my friends, and I remember being totally transfixed by what was happening on screen. It was an awakening for me, that ignited my passion for movies in general.
The writing in Eternal Sunshine is fantastic. The screenplay is full of interesting, creative ideas. No character ever feels false. What's remarkable about this movie is that we spend over half of it literally inside the main character's head. Charlie Kaufman, and Michel Gondry as well, do an incredible job of recreating that experience for the viewer, both visually and verbally. As Joel's memory is being erased, things start to change in the dream. Fence posts fly up into the stratosphere and disappear. Streetlights flicker off. The scientist at the doorway has no face.
Anchoring this movie is a beautifully understated, sensitive performance by Jim Carrey. You can sense the brokenness in his character, the damage. He's a sympathetic protagonist, even if he isn't perfect. And then Kate Winslet comes on as Clementine, a pure force of life, and steals all the scenes she's in. The scientists are all played by known actors, and they do fine. But Carrey is the biggest surprise of the movie. He should honestly do more dramatic work.
I talked about the visuals a bit already, but Gondry deserves credit for a large amount of why this movie works so well. The way he represents Joel's brain is very imaginative, even brilliant. No scene really hits a false note. He also brought in Jon Brion to do the soundtrack, and it's one of my favorite movie soundtracks ever.
This is one of those movies that just comes together from top to bottom, to make a whole greater than the sum of its parts. I haven't even talked about the philosophical and ethical questions Eternal Sunshine tackles, or its beautiful observations on love and human connection. Not to mention the ambiguous ending that could not have been more perfect. When I walked out of that theater, I knew I'd just seen a great film. It made me interested in films, period. So it will always have a spot in my movie-loving heart.
Highly recommended, 9/10.