quite a trip

Rating: Null/10 (27 November 2004)

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is the most recent film from Charlie Kaufman, the screenwriter who has become a phenomenon as the only writer in contemporary film (with the exception of writer/directors) whose name rattles off moviegoers' tongues...
[As is the expectation of commenting on IMDb, I too will list some of the other Kaufman written flicks that I enjoyed.]
...You see, he's the writer behind "Adaptation" and "Being John Malkovich". The latter film shares the most in common with "Eternal Sunshine", which is very much a two hour version of the chase scene through Malkovich's subconscious. The film stars Jim Carrey, who seems light years away from "Ace Ventura" in a particularly subdued performance, and Kate Winslet, who has given consistently strong performances since 1994's "Heavenly Creatures" and I feel is one of the finest actresses working today, as well as a small roster of wonderful talent (the overlooked Mark Ruffalo, as well as Elijah Wood, Kirsten Dunst, and Tom Wilkinson).
It's an intellectually engaging film, which I think really detracts from the whole romantic, emotional impact. I never fully felt like the relationship that the two leads erase seemed much more than tortured unrequited love and full of mind games, but maybe that was the point.
It's a really fine film, and well worth a look, which is likely what you will hear from just about everyone.
So why haven't you seen it yet?