Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind DVD > Reviews > Technically the procedure is brain damage

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Highly original, great cast
Disadvantages:	some may not appreciate this kind of cinema

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Boy, I would love to get inside screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's head. The king of the strange stories has create some truely surreal work, especially in the last few years. There was "Being John Malkovich" a story about John Cussack who discovers a secret doorway inside his half scale office on a half scale floor hidden in an office tower that takes him inside the mind of actor, John Malkovich. After one of these strange sessions he then ramdomly lands next to an offramp on a freeway. Then there was "Adaptation", a strange tale that involves Charlie Kaufman (played by Nicholas Cage) writing a screeplay about the screenply that ultimately becomes the film that your watching. Kaufman's latest offering "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" is eqaully strange and truely unforgettable.

The story follows the life of Joel (Jim Carrey on top form) an unsuspecting, quiet, simple, go with the flow kind of guy. His girlfirend, Clementine (Kate Winslet) is the pole opposite, spontaneous, zany and has a zest for life. Their rocky relationship leads to problems. One day, things are not quite right and it turns out that Clementine has no genuine memory of Joel's existence. It turns out that she went to a company called Lacuna and had her memories of Joel erased. Joel meets the Lacuna team: Dr Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson), Stan (Mark Ruffalo), Patrick (Elijah Wood) and Mary (Kirsten Dunst). In spite and revenge, Joel does the same memory eradication process but during the overnight procedure at his appartment while unconsious, Joel has second thoughts and wants to call the whole thing off. Since he can't wake with his memories of Clementine being systematically eradicatted. He decides to hide her in other memories in an attempt to keep her in his life.

Meanwhile, the Lacuna team have their own stories to tell. Patrick has stolen the items that Joel brought into Lacuna, which were connected to Clementine; gifts etc. With the help of them, he is trying to woo the non the wiser, brainwashed Clementine. Mary has a secret crush on her boss, the good doctor Howard.

After the lengthy precredit sequence, which leaves you in complete bewilerment (this enhances Joel's confusion over the proceedings and also puts us, the audience in the same position), we are thrown into a story that starts slow but builds momentum leading to a satisfying conlusion and satisying exerience.

The perfromances from the cast are some of the best so far this year. Jim Carrey keeps his usual physical comedic performance style on a very tight leash as the reserved Joel. Kate Winslet is also in role reversal as the unpredictable, outgoing Clementine. She handles it nicely. The supporting cast are also great. Elijah Wood's Frodo Baggins connections have disappeared as the Wood plays the naive and slightly devious Patrick with a great innosence. Kirstin Dunst (while not dancing in her underwear) is suprisingly disarming as the quirky Lacuna secretary, Mary. Mark Ruffalo puts in a fine performane as computer geek Stan and Tom Wilkinson is magnetic as Dotor Howard Mierzwiak. He displays a certain professionalism without the glamour that films sometimes fausely show.

Director Michel Gondry ("Human Nature" - the other collaboration with writer Charlie Kaufman) uses his previous experiences of directing music videos to his advantage. The scenes within Carrey's memories are well thought out and well executed. The visual world in which alot of the film is based: Joel's mind, is portrayed in mysterious fashion, just like a dream. Its a good opportunuty for some good visual work and believe me, the opportunity is not passed. The subtle yet fantastic editting holds the film together. One set merging to another via walking through a door, people disappapearing etc create a surreal and enjoyable experience that is a rare sight these days. It is a reworking of the classic love story told differently then any standard rom-com. Although this is an 'indie' film, it certainly doesn't feel like one.

The script is superb and is definately Kaufman's most satisfing to date. It is a much better accomplished script compared to previous efforts. Charlie Kaufman has had trouble in executing the third act of his story for several films. "Being John Malkovich" stops short at the finish and then decides to crawl over, "Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind" seemed to tangle in its own intrigue and "Adaptation" had an ending that kind of copped out. It is safe to say however that the final act for Eternal Sunshine is blinding (I usually use more sophisticated words to describe things but I just can't be bothered today...). The script posses some questions about life and love and doesn't quite resovlve atbthe end. You see the light but you con't quite forget what it took to see that light. The story is helped along by the fantastic editing (asformentioned). Revelations are revealed when the time is right, the story flows with grace and each scene moves with grace and curiosity.

The soundtrack promotes moments of poignancy and moments of fun. This film has been advertised as a comedy, anyone looking for a hilarious outing at the pictures will be disappointed. This film in not particulary funny but still worth watching. There are moments that make you chuckle but nothing of the laught out loud variety. These moments in the film are when Joel tries to hide Clementine in another part of his memory that consists of his childhood and embarassing teenage years. Its ammusing to see Jim Carrey sitting under a large kitchen table portaying a four-year old, wearing red pyjamas. This kind of character performace plays to Carrey's strengths as a physical performer and that very tight leash restricting his over the top talent is a lttle more slack.

BOTTOM LINE
Eternal Sunshine is without dout the strangest film you'll see this year but it is well worth the viewing, if not for enjoyment but for the curiosity factor. People who go to see slashers and brainless actioners may not fully appreciate it as there is no elaborate death and things don't randomly explode. Jim Carrey proves that he can be an equally good if not better staight man than his sterotype funny guy.

CERTIFICATE : 15
TIME APPROX : 108 minutes

CAUTION
some strong lanuage
some sexual references

IF YOU LIKE THIS TRY:
Annie Hall - another wierd film about love that perfectly captures the arc of a relationship

Technically the procedure is brain damage, but this can be on par with a night of heavy drinking, nothing you'll miss.

<DarkMark