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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
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There was a time when I refused to see anything with Jim Carrey in it, and I thank my lucky stars that I've become more open-minded since. To get an overall picture of things, let's start with the writers, Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry. Kaufman is the same man that helped create such intricate movies as "Being John Malkovich" and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," and you can expect just as many clever twists and weavings in this story, you can also expect to be just as drawn to the characters. Then we have Michel Gondry, who among other videos, produced many of Bjork's, and who brings that wide imaginative spectrum of scenes to the film. The series of visuals are erratic and stunning, just like the story.
The movie's not exactly in chronological order, but at the beginning of the actual story, Joel Barish (played by Carrey) and Clementine Kruczynski (played by Kate Winslet) undertake a relationship which has many ups and downs. Barish is the more 'normal,' reasonable of the two, while Clementine provides most of the excitement as well as instability. The two break up after about a year together and Joel is crushed, and doesn't understand why she will have absolutely nothing to do with him until finally, he is told by his friend (played by the ever-humorous David Cross) that Clementine had him erased from her memory by a company by the name of Lacuna. Love-torn, confused, and angry by this, Joel finds himself asking for the same procedure.
From this point, we see some bad times, and we see some great times in their relationship, times when the couple really connect with each other, through a series of memories as they're being erased. Joel starts remembering the good times and changes his mind as the memories are being erased before his very eyes. The amazing part is how the filmmakers demonstrate the emotion of loss so well through the visual representation of losing a memory, the emotion of losing something as important as those little things, little amazing things that happen every great once in a while, conveyed through the physical elimination of the moment. For example, one memory occurs in a house, and at the height of it, parts of the house begin to come crashing down, then disappear, effectively making you realize how precious those moments really are. Throughout the process, Joel fights with all his might to save these memories, and in the meantime a little subplot between the Lacuna faculty (whose roles played by Tom Wilkinson (whose character developed the procedure), Elijah Wood (one far from the LOTR role we've grown so accustomed to), Kirsten Dunst, and Mark Ruffalo deserve some notable credit) ensues, which all ties in, eventually.
I really can't go on any more about the plot but to commend its craftiness, as well as the dialogue and acting which draw you into the characters immediately (I even forgot that I was watching Jim Carrey throughout the thing), the cinematography is nothing less than amazing, and it's genuinely, refreshingly, uplifting. I can tell already this is going to be one of the best movies for this year, and, for me, one of the best, period. What else is great about this is that it's truly romantic, with movies like this and "Lost in Translation" coming out, I may like romances after all.
"How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign’d."
-- Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard.
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