The Surreal Life. (Spoilers)

Rating: 7/10 (5 July 2004)

'Eternal Sunshine' is another brain-bending riddle from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. I didn't like 'Being John Malkovich' or 'Adaptation,' but I thought 'Eternal Sunshine' was really a good movie. Long, but good.
This is a movie with an interesting concept: how do people deal with bad situations? Here, a company offers permanent repression of memory.
The story focuses on Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet), two people who awkwardly meet and fall in love (I suppose). But, their lack of communication skills prevents any sort of meaningful relationship. Over time, they grow weary of other.
This are the most interesting, surrealistic scenes and once that force to you realize that everything you're seeing about Joel was a memory or something erased from his memory (pay close attention when you watch it again to the beginning scenes prior to Joel's going to the clinic).
During the latter part of the memory wipe, Joel starts to concentrate on all the good times that he and Clementine had, realizing that he is still in love with her. And the latter part of the memory wipe is Joel trying to manipulate his memories to hide them from the fast sweep of the memory wipe process. Essentially, he tries to manipulate his memories and save Clementine in another part of his brain. It is like Atreyu being chased by the Nothing and salvaging what he can of Fantasia. Joel is salvaging what he can of Clementine and in the end, memory wipe doesn't seem like the best solution afterall (although, Joel probably would've gone for a technique that just wiped out the bad and kept the good).
But the interesting part is the finale. Because, these people continue to have their memory wiped again and again (making it one wealthy enterprise, no less). Although, what I don't understand is why would those people keep doing exactly the same thing that led up to meeting that other person (or doing whatever it was the they had erased). Would Joel jump on the train to Montauk (something that seemed out of the ordinary at the time, anyway) every day after he got his memory wiped? So, even as an old man getting his memory erased for the umpteenth time, would he be compelled to go on the train to Montauk and start all over again? It seems pretty stupid.
Though this movie is somewhat long, given that you're forced to follow Joel through every single damned memory of Clementine, the repetition is somewhat alleviated by this surrealistic journey until the whole thing becomes so totally bizarre and the situation for Joel so desperate. In the end, the movie suggests that it is more painful to try to ignore everything (and very counterproductive), instead of just trying to face those problems. It seems like Joel and Clementine, two eccentrics, seem really happy together when things are going well. If they just would've honestly confronted their problems, they wouldn't need the memory, and they'd have probably been a couple that was well off for as long as they could be (not to say that happy endings last forever).
Kaufman's surrealistic style strikes gold here, as does a pretty fantastic cast. Especially, Jim Carrey proves he doesn't have to overact to do well. Although, I must say Elijah Wood does take yet another weird part as Patrick, the lab assistant, who tries to steal Joel's identity in order to woo Clementine. But, the whole movie is really Carrey and Winslet.