Far-fetched, yet rooted in reality.

Rating: 9/10 (3 September 2014)

Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet play Joel and Clementine, a couple who, when their relationship goes south, undergo a procedure to erase each other from their memories. It's strange, smart, sad, funny, and just overall brilliant.
This film left an indelible impression on me the first time I saw it many years ago. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen before, and I was utterly smitten. The material and the way it was translated on screen was appealing in its novelty and eccentricity. Though operating on a far-fetched premise, the film depicts a very real picture of how relationships are - sweet at the beginning, sour over time, and with at least one bitter casualty by the time it ends. What it ultimately asks though, is if it's worth it, taking in all the bad with the good. If the prospect of love is worth the potential disaster it'll leave in its wake. The film doesn't answer it for us, but I'd say the ending wraps up the whole thing in the best way possible.
It may be ten years old as of this writing, but Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind remains to be as fresh, wonderful and unique as ever.