Hazy Sunshine

Rating: 7/10 (14 April 2005)

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is, if nothing else, (and it is a ton of other things), inventive.
The premise: What if one could erase another from one's memories? In "Eternal..." the erasees are two halves of a couple, Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet), who have decided to call it quits, and then some. Their addenda are tacked on via the help of a small outfit, Lacuna, Inc. ("lacuna" defined: a blank space; a missing portion in a text, etc.), that is presided over by a doctor who claims that with his technological assistance one can successfully eradicate one's memories of another. This is a novel claim, no doubt, and for the doctor's patients, if the procedure works, a probable godsend, enabling his "cured" patients to go forward after break-ups, divorces, etc., without the usual grieving, second thoughts, and lamentations.
In "Eternal..." Joel discovers that Clementine has undergone the procedure when he finds a piece of mail from Lacuna, Inc. To verify the information on that correspondence he goes to Clementine's work place to confront her. Much to his dismay, she looks at him with a blank face, showing no indicator that she has ever seen him before. She even smooches her new (old?) boyfriend while talking to Joel. He then decides to pursue the same path as Clementine, though his decision to undergo the procedure is seemingly based on vindication: to get back at Clementine for erasing him. This is a somewhat relevant point because I think that Joel's eventual decision to reverse the procedure has much to do with his realization that his motives are mean-spirited. From what we see of him, he's not that kind of guy. Eccentric and introverted, yes, vengeful and hateful, no.
Does his attempt to reverse the procedure and get back Clementine work? By movie's end, one isn't quite sure. Joel and Clementine seem to be on the road to reconciliation, but, as neither has truly shown any significant change (one's "promise to change" being nothing but hot air and fantasy), one wonders whether or not they will fall right back into the rut that derailed their course in the first (second?) place.
But, by movie's end, and at various points throughout, one also isn't quite sure as to exactly who erased who first, Joel or Clementine, or whether or not they have done so more than once. This is a film--think "Memento"--that compels you to pay attention, for its chronology perpetually folds back within itself. At times that is most amusing, yet, in some other instances it is confusing.
As with "Adaptation" and "Being John Malkovich," the story tends to overshadow the actors, as keeping up with its chronological complexities compels one to remain acutely attentive. As such, Carrey and Winslet, who play quirky, Long Island bohemians (minus the "LawnGuyLand" accents, by the way) are sublimated to playing supporting roles, in effect, serving merely as players forever moved back and forth in time to suit the tale. Sure enough, though I've yet to read any other review, that Carrey and Winslet, both Hollywood A-list actors, opted to take these "second fiddle" roles will summon forth "best performance of their career" reviews aplenty. But, overly, neither does much as the story plays the lead role.
Co-starring with the lead is director Michel Condry. His brilliant and apt use of special effects provides for many amazing sequences, especially those depicting Joel and Clementine racing ahead within Joel's sub-conscious visions and vistas, his rapidly erasing memory of things causing for the disintegration of landscapes behind the fleeing protagonists. Picture yourself walking just ahead of a sweeping tide of water that is obliterating a city of sandcastles, leaving nothing in its wake but a white wash.
In one hilarious sequence, we see Joel as an adult kid, cowering beneath a kitchen table, with a morphed Clementine (in this memory, she plays his mother, and gives kudos to the style of that earlier time: the 70s) trying to talk him through his troublesome memory and back onto the path to his salvation. In other sequences, Condry evokes living double-images, with present-time Joel walking and wading about in his memories. Eye candy deluxe, the kind of visual stuff that drops your jaw down like a toaster oven door: wow!! In totality, "Eternal..." is a solid B+ film, and worth a second viewing if for no other reason than to try to get the facts straight. Its drawbacks: the story runs aground at times, fetching to keep up its loony plot and pace; and the presence of Kirsten Durst, the living embodiment of The Peter Principle, here, once again, miscast and over-matched by both story and supporting cast. Thin as a swizzle stick and less compelling than a detergent ad, her 15 minutes are exhausted.