Is there any risk of brain damage?

Rating: 10/10 (16 December 2007)

'04s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Directed by Michel Gondry and Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman; Starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst
"Random thoughts for Valentine's Day, 2004. Today is a holiday invented by greeting card companies.. to make people feel like crap."
The first line of the movie.. and pretty much the one line, that I think, sums the beginning of this movie up. Director Michel Gondry really cooks up a visual feast for the eyes in this one, along side screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malcovich, Adaptation, etc) who never fails in writing an off the wall movie. Most movies of our time, are filled with too over the top CGI, where as Gondry's style of direction, is standing alone. Not many directors out there, put the theory of camera tricks in their films.. especially those directors that have just a cinematographer doing the work for them. Not that any of them are bad, but directors who put a lot of stock into their vision, get the best results.
Eternal Sunshine is a movie about two thirty-somethings, Joel Barish and Clementine Kruczynski, played by comedic genius Jim Carrey and actress Kate Winslet. These two endure love, disagreement, and pain (in that order) over a 2 year period and begin to grow tired of one another. This movie forces us to ask ourselves, "If we could, would we have certain memories erased from our brains, to stop the pain that we experience when losing a loved one?" This is the movie's main concept, which works very well, being that it's relate-able to most human beings.
The brains behind this possibility, is Lacuna LTD., a surgical clinic ran by Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson). After a tough breakup, Clementine finds Dr. Mierzwiak, and what he does. And being the impulsive person that she is, she decides on the surgery. Sometime after this, Joel goes to Barnes and Noble where Clementine works, and is baffled to find her ignoring him and there with another guy.
Being torn by this, he takes comfort with two friends of theirs, Rob and Carrie. While Carrie is trying to explain to Joel, why Clementine is the way she is, her and Rob get into a fight over a very important piece of paper, that Rob gets out of a near-by dresser drawer.
Dear Rob and Carrie Eakin:
Clementine Kruczynski has had Joel Barish erased from her memory. Please never mention their relationship to her again. Thank you.
LACUNA, LTD. 424 GRAND STREET, NY, NY
After reading this card, Joel confronts Lacuna, and is in disbelief of what is said. After he leaves, he stresses over Clementine, and cannot believe she'd do something like this. Not knowing what to do, he decides to go through with this procedure as well. As he forces himself into Dr. Mierzwiak's office, his assistant Mary (Kirsten Dunst) tries to stop him, and insist he wait in the waiting room. Joel cuts her off by saying, "Okay, I want it done, Now!"
They record Joel talk about the history of him and Clementine, and easily make a map of his brain activity, by having Joel react to everything he owns that has some association with Clementine.
Joel: "Is there any risk of brain damage?"
Dr. Mierzwiak: "Well, technically, the procedure itself is brain damage, but on a par with a night of heavy drinking. Nothing you'll miss."
Let the mind trip ensue, because here is where Michel Gondry's brilliant directing style shines. Never before have I seen a film directed like this, nor have I ever saw a film that got so much out of its characters in only a couple of hours. It's like watching a book, in that it has so much detail, you'll be dazzled.
The score constructed by Jon Brion and is something to talk about. With it's heartwarming, robotic like, piano notes and it's acoustic bass & guitars, to the tracks written by some of today's pop icons, Beck and Polyphonic Spree. Beck contributes only one song, titled "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime", which I think counteracts very well with this film.
This film will touch you unlike any film in the world, and will force you to rethink some of your most cherished memories of your loved ones. This film may confuse you, but you'll be left wanted to watch it again and again and in doing so, you'll find out things that you didn't the first time.
This is by far my favorite film, and my first movie review, so I hope I've lifted some eyebrows, and caught some of your attention, because like God, this is something to share to everyone I know.
Happy Watching, Brok Spiker
Quotes from The Newmarket Shooting Script series for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.