One of the year's best so far

Rating: 8/10 (11 August 2004)

This inspired inquiry into dreams and memory—suffused, like "Waking Life," with certain metaphysical questions: Can we exert control over our dreams? Can our waking actions be affected?—is proficiently anchored by both Gondry's visualization of memories being ripped from the protean grasp of desire and the heart-rending account of an afflicted couple trying to outwit their own self-destructive impulses. It seems that after his ambitious but not quite satisfying attempt to climb inside the artist's head during creative constipation and compromise (Adaptation), Charlie Kaufman has found a director who can not only evoke his flighty genius in image, but who can reign in and expand his ideas. And it is a rare film that can so skillfully say opposing things about the nature of relationships: They end in suffering and misery between hopelessly incongruous people, but they still require careful consideration and a selfsame willingness to suffer despite the stacked odds. Hell of a conundrum.