Film Review: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

He's very disappointed, knowing that she's not, Hayley Williams.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Overall Score: 91%

Certified: Royal Swan    

Score Breakdown:

Performance: 95%   Plot: 100%   Script: 80%   Visuals: 90%   Music: 80%

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Director: Michel Gondry
Writer(s): Michel Gondry, Charlie Kaufman, Pierre Bismuth
Producer(s): Anthony Bregman, Steve Golin
Distributor(s): Focus Features

Country: United States

Language: English

Starring: Jim Carey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson

Studio(s): Focus Features, Anonymous Content, This is That

MPAA Rating: R
Runtime: 108 Minutes

This movie is one of my favorite movies, ever. The reason why is because this movie is a pure fictional work of art that gives excitement and hope, like a fairy tale. A fairy tale for adults. How things are a mess, the complexity of being an adult and making decisions, with elements that are impossible to happen. A little bit of magic. This is an adult fantasy because there's some depth into it, some twist and does take quite a thinking. In the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, we will dive to the dimension of consciousness and consequences of choices in the most magical, delightful ways.

In this movie, Joel Barish (Jim Carey) was in a relationship with a carefree girl Clementine Kruczyinski (Kate Winslet) only to find several months later broken off without any warning. Or acknowledgement. He finds out that Clementine have undergone a target memory erasure at a specialized treatment center called Lacuna, Inc., where she erases him in her mind. Devastated, he becomes angry and done something that he regretted much later. There are also complications between Stan Fink (Mark Ruffalo), Patrick (Elijah Wood), Dr. Howard (Tom Wilkinson) and Mary Svevo (Kirsten Dunst), the staffs at Lacuna, Inc. There's drama everywhere and unpredictable events. 

The concept is a fairy tale. With the memory target erasure that seems like a curse, Joel's mind that seems like a land far far away, and the chase that seems like an adventure. There's also a bit of moral and lesson learned in the end of the movie. About relationships, decisions, consequences, sacrifices, hard work and human emotions. An adult fairy tale. I don't know why, but this movie reminds me of Fujiko F. Fujio's work with Doraemon where it's a little bit dynamic and has this fantasy technology that everyone in the story lives with. A science fiction that gives a certain hope and faith as we also want things to go a certain way for the characters. A sense of connection as Kate's and Jim's chemistry are powerful. Their characters are so opposite and each of them are so strong, they're like magnets, inseparable. This is a dark story-not sad, but dark-with gentle loving care from many aspects, such as the scenes, visuals, music and dialogues that are lighthearted and tender. Seriously, it almost feels like this story was drawn from some brilliant, melancholy, children's book.

I was afraid that the story would get boring because it's not that complex, but the movie keeps bringing up touching scenes and sweet memories of the duo. Although, at first I found the story quite confusing as the characters are entering and slicing up alternate relaity and dreams and memories out to the open. The movie does not tell me beforehand about this science or medical breakthrough technology with the oh-actually fictional surgery, but I catch on after a little while.

Kristen Dunst was alluring. Her aura, on every movie I've watched was always inviting and fun and the type of girl anybody would fall for. It's nice to see her play a character that surprises us. Mark Ruffalo's portrayal gives a certain feeling of symphaty towardsw the Lacuna staff. I find Elijah's character to be the least important, and I think he's too young to play Patrick. Patrick as a character is nice, but when (spoiler alert, skip to next paragraph if you don't want to be spoiled) Patrick got paired with Clementine, his face and personality is too...childish and immature for Kate Winslet and her character. Probably, despite for looking very much alike as Jared Leto from band 'Thirty Seconds to Mars', this movie really brings up the best out of Jim Carey. From all of his movies, this for me is him at his highest and brightest talent. Outstanding performances.

Overall this is a great movie. It takes us to places and let us feel various emotions during the whole movie. It's a simple but deep psychological drama fantasy romance science fiction movie that takes me for a ride. Brilliant. This is how a science-fiction, romance drama should all be like. Or, a twisted romance. This is another big chunk of a portrayal of an honest and modern relationship.

+R