Finally a perfect film from Kaufman

Rating: 10/10 (23 March 2004)

Eternal Sunshine represents the moment that Charlie Kaufman finally came into his own. After utterly blowing the third acts of both Adaptation and Being John Malkovitch, and falling asleep behind the wheel of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Kaufman has, at long last, created a complete film, a unified vision in which not one word could be changed without somehow compromising the whole. If anyone is the man, the new heir to Paul Shrader (in terms not of style but of overall importance and critical value), then it's Charlie Kaufman.
Many debts are of course owed to magic realism--the literary genre to which the film belongs, and the genre Kaufman specializes in inhabiting. Behind every Kaufman script lurks the long shadows of Borges, Marquez and Calvino. Many other debts are owed to the stellar performance of Jim Carrey, whose career can now boast three decent films (this one, Man on the Moon and Truman), and whose agent, if equipped with any brains whatsoever, would advocate that Jim latch onto director Michel Gondry's ankles with a vise-like death grip in the hopes of obtaining a future role. Even the supporting cast is exemplary, for example, Kate Winslet's neurotic, immature, flakey and alcoholic character is entirely convincing.
Perhaps Michel Gondry is the real deal. Unlike MTV stablemate Spike Jonze, who should either put up or shut up, and either make a complete film or head back to the 3 minute movie, Gondry has cast away the narrower limitations of music video and created a real film--not that his work with the Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack or Bjork is in any way unimportant or unimpressive, but the format does impose its own limitations. Whatever the case, Gondry, like Kaufman, has arrived and perhaps the contributions of the two cannot be separated.
The film itself? It is perfect. It is flawless. Out of the 1500 films I have reviewed, I have only seen thirteen films that have earned 10/10.