Powerful and original (***1/2)

Rating: 8/10 (28 March 2004)

Yet another mind-boggling and inventive screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, who specializes in multi-layered stories that whimsically examine human identity, "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" is about the idea of memory erasure.
Following a passionate but disastrous love affair, Joel (Jim Carrey) finds out that his ex, Clementine (Kate Winslet) went to a new organization called Lacuna, Inc. to have her memory of him erased. Angry and hurt, he decides to retaliate and have his memory of HER erased as well.
As he did with Spike Jonze, Kaufman is working with a director here who does a great job of expressing his strange ideas visually. This time, it's Michel Gondry, who like Jonze has directed some of the most creative music videos of all time (Gondry's repertoire includes Bjork's dreamlike "Army Of Me" and the Chemical Brothers' optical illusion-riddled "Let Forever Be").

While Joel undergoes the procedure, most of the movie takes place inside his head (which allows for Gondry to give us plenty of bizarre, surrealistic visuals), as he is made to relive his memories with Clementine before they're erased. Going back to the good times, he of course realizes he doesn't want them to be erased, but it's too late. All he can do is savor the memories before they're gone, which is a heartbreaking situation.

Meanwhile, in the real world, an interesting little story of its own is developing among the memory technicians working on Joel (played by the interesting group of actors Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, and Elijah Wood).
"Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" (the title is a quote from a poem by Alexander Pope) is not for everyone. It's a strange, confusing and unconventional film, but those with an open mind will love those qualities, and recognize its originality, excellent performances (Carrey has never been better), and unpredictability.
The only slight flaw I can think of is that it feels a little too long, but that might just be a result of so many twists and turns that it's hard to mentally process it all.
Not for all tastes, but I highly recommend it for people who like their movies to actually surprise and challenge them.