"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
Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a bizarre but wonderful movie, a very strange and remarkably tender experience, which I suppose is only to be expected from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, the man behind Being John Malkovich.
The film was produced by Focus Features (Lost in Translation, 21 Grams), a company which strives to offer original, quality films to the true cinema lovers. If the company keeps producing films this good, they may become hugely successful in the future, if not already.
The previews portrayed the movie as a bouncy, cheery comedy in the vein of Adaptation, the last film written for the big screen by Charlie Kaufman, when it is really a tender movie about love and romance. This is Jim Carrey's best performance to date, and may open the eyes of his prejudiced haters who have only imagined him as Ace Ventura and a certain cable guy for his entire career.
No snippy quotes, outrageous humor or bizarre antics in Sunshine — Carrey plays a true, realistic, three-dimensional character named Joel Barrish, who plans to have memories of his girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet), erased by a new company called Lacuna, after he discovers that she herself has had the procedure performed only a week before. Joel meets with the company's founder, Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson), and is informed that the procedure — although "technically" brain damage — is on par with a heavy night of drinking. "Nothing you'll miss much," he is told, as he plunges into a bizarre world of long forgotten memories.
The entire process of the operation is quite fascinating, really, if a bit reminiscent of an idea founded by none other than one of Kaufman's favorite writers, Philip K. Dick, who wrote the source short story for the Ah-nuld movie "Total Recall." All items relating to the person you want erased from your brain are assembled together, and the technicians at Lacuna (Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood) then "map" an outline of your memories, which are supposedly stemmed together.
Article comments
1 - rob
Great review of an excellent film.
2 - pirmmie
I think you missed the true point of the film, that love is worth holding onto, warts and all. The peripheral characters underscore this theme. Patrick (Wood) for example muses on Joel's "stale dump" of an apartment; by associating himself with Clementine he hopes to add cachet and glamour to his own doubtless stale and dumpish life. Meanwhile Clementine give her little "I'm not a symbol, I'm just a screwed up girl" speach not once, but twice! In the end Joel and Clem learn that love is messy, not always hearts and flowers, but worth working for.
3 - El Bicho
"Adaptation, the last film written for the big screen by Charlie Kaufman,"
What about Confessions of a Dangerous Mind?
4 - Casey Lunkley
Comment #2:
I think everyone, at least in my expieriences in watching people react and talk about the film, gains some sort of perspective on the film, but each perspective is different. Thanks for your opinion!
Comment #3:
You're right. I preferred "Adaption" to "Confessions" so I overlooked it. My apologies.
5 - Ted
Hey, good job stealing this dude's review.
The article above was posted in June 2004, and it's identical to "your" review posted in 2006. I'm reporting your stolen content to the owner of the site.
6 - Sam
This review is identical to a review written two years earlier by a different author.
Plagiarism!