Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind DVD > Reviews > Meet me in Montauk

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Kaufman's script, Gondry's direction, Winslet
Disadvantages:	Minor let - down sub - plots

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Charlie Kaufman is a man of mystery. He’s like a more subtle Lynch who ranges from the poignant to the utterly bizarre, with a lot of random tidbits in the middle. “Being John Malkovich” was Kaufman’s first “written by” venture into Hollywood in 1999 where he wowed audiences with his strangely original concepts and peculiar directorial traits. How many other directors pitch a film about someone finding a door-way into John Malkovich’s head…? “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is Kaufman’s latest mind-f*ck of a movie, only this time he isn’t directing it, and in it; he focuses more upon character development and inter-action than the basic concept which could at times feel a little repetitive and déjà vu in “Being John Malkovich”; instead “Eternal Sunshine” was constantly dynamic, twisting and turning throughout even with the inevitability of the ending, it was still surprising.
Michel Gondry did the film justice; taking Kaufman’s oddball script and making it work on the big silver screen. Gondry and director of photography Ellen Kuras are a duo of intelligent and sharp directors. The direction was extraordinarily stylish, but with Kaufman’s scripting and thought, it does not lack much needed substance. “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” doesn’t attempt to be spectacular or gain instant status as being excellent or worthy of prestigious awards; it’s just an indie-esque film which is a delightful change from Hollywood’s usual cack – perhaps that’s why very distinguished Focus Features picked it up. Focus Features is the anti-Universal sibling of Universal Studios, responsible for releasing films such as the superlative “Lost in Translation” and “21 Grams”.

I was really drawn to this film. The fast-paced trailers with supporting Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr Blue Sky” were not only intriguing, but gave nothing away about the film. I’m a big fan of teaser-ish trailers; if I want to see a film I’ll go pay to see it in the cinema, but I don’t like to be bombarded while going to see another film with a two-minute condensed spoilerific version of the film itself. It’s ironic that I’m a trailer freak – if a film has a good trailer, I have high hopes for the film itself. “Eternal Sunshine” was one of the very few which paid off.

Gondry is one of countless directors to use an unusual chronology for the format of the film. Tarantino uses this in a gimmicky, gawky sort of way. Cut-and-stick is the term coined for Tarantino type chronology. Here, Gondry has used a bizarre chronology, but it doesn’t come off as an overly-stretched gimmick and you don’t tire of it. Instead, the reverse count-down to complete erasure has echoes of Memento, but is a lot less tiring to watch and ties up loose ends without strain, unlike over-confusing mind-trip Memento.
Gondry over-uses special effects somewhat, as a constant reminder to the audience, for those who don’t understand that the memories are being erased. The SFX are spectacular, each scene encompassing a different extreme of effect. One scene features a car falling from the sky crashing violently to earth, in another the covers of rows and stacks of books slowly erase, becoming bleach-white and indiscriminate. I’m a fan of this stylistic sort of direction and I wasn’t disappointed, though I know some viewers can tire easily of special effects.

After a two-year relationship, unsuspecting, average-Joe (Oh, how I love that expression) Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) and frivolous, impulsive Clementine Cruczynski (Kate Winslet) are at the end of a long and painful break-up. Joel has ideals of kiss-and-make-ups, but Clem has other ideas in mind. One day Joel finds a card which discloses that Clementine has had Joel completely removed from her memory. Hurt and distraught, Joel opts for the procedure himself, the ultimate way to get back at her and get her out of his system for good. The only problem is, after going into the erasure, Joel changes his mind, coming to the realisation that the memories he is losing are too precious; Joel starts to fall in love with Clementine all over again. Running parallel to the main plot is a somewhat lacking sub-plot which doesn’t really make much impact and doesn’t tie up loose ends. Patrick (Elijah Wood) is presently charming Clementine, (unbeknownst to her – with the familiar lines Joel used on her) who naively sees it as déjà vu.
Kirsten Dunst and Mark Ruffalo put in two unnecessary performances in their unneeded sub-story. I think Gondry’s choice of using these two was purely for advertising purposes. As was the use of The Lord of the Rings’ Elijah Wood, to give younger viewers a greater sense of familiarity with the characters. Don’t fret, the director hasn’t completely sold out to Satan.

Unlike other love stories, the development between the two protagonists is completely one-sided; and must be viewed with the knowledge that this deepening relationship between Joel and Clem is really between Joel and a part of his own psyche. This is an urban society’s equivalent to 1600s Romeo and Juliet and is memorable mainly for the originality of the two main characters.
The story is not wholly about love and has many genuinely funny laugh-out-loud moments, ranging from the head-slapping-ly stupid to intelligent titter-tatter. The comedy is so interspersed that it never feels over-bearing like a love story, or perhaps I was just deluding myself as I so often do.
Kaufman’s scripting never tries to be usual, unlike most films, “Eternal Sunshine” doesn’t deliver countless skin-crawling clichés but is instead charming in its own genre-defying way. The film is very reflective in the fact that it inspires thought about life, love and regret. Or perhaps its just two hours wasted for shits and giggles. I’ll never know, until the release of the DVD.

The film’s premise didn’t seem confusing to me – perhaps that’s because I saw Mulholland Drive and enjoyed it… The most irritating thing about the majority of the people my age when going to see a film like this is their narrow-mindedness (echoes of “that was crap, it made no sense” come to mind) towards anything that is beyond their preconceived spectrum of the norm. I hope people who go into this film are expecting nothing more than something different and not the latest Jim Carrey comic blockbuster. Otherwise, this will be a terrible let-down. Those of you who find entertainment in something more than someone beating themselves across the head with a frozen turkey may just enjoy this film. Actually, going back to the turkey comment, I’d probably be entertained by that for an unusually long time.

Jim Carrey was an unusual selection for Joel. This unfamiliar 60% serious, 40% comic acting is a welcome change for one of Hollywood’s highest paid actors – but one of the most over-looked. With a filmography including slapstick, barf-fest “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and the incomparably pathetic “Dumb and Dumber”, “Eternal Sunshine” is a step-up for Carrey into serious acting, where his talents are more suited. I think this really is the defining role of Carrey’s career, on a par with the eccentric “Cable Guy” in the 1996 movie. This time it’s all toned down. In Carrey’s subtlety, he speaks loudest. I still believe a better selection could have been made in some parts; but I don’t think anyone could carry off the comedy like Carrey does and this could’ve jeopardised the films look in total.
Winslet shone as Clementine. One of two English actors in the film, she did our country proud. It annoys me when an English actor will be the stereotypical tea-drinking, biscuit-munching embodiment of so-called English culture. Instead she took on a questionable American accent (it was probably cringe-worthy for an American to watch) and failed to stereotype us Brits. Winslet played Clementine with unsurpassable spirit. While Carrey felt lacking in his performance as Joel, Winslet doesn’t fail to impress.
Kirsten Dunst, although unnecessary to the plot, is good in her part. She plays an avid-stoner with great realism, from her overly-talkative insights into the ambiguity of song lyrics, to her random hunger-pang “munchies”, I was impressed by a child-of Hollywood accurately depicting soft-drug-use. Or so I’m told, of course…
Dunst and Ruffalo in the dancing-in-their-pants, over Joel’s sleeping boy scene are absolutely hilarious. One was pissing oneself at the utter randomness of the scene. I wonder if I’m alone in finding hilarity in anything that is random…

The music is as varied and random as the picture itself. The music ranging from a neo-classical score composing most of the complementary music to early-80s pop, with other added bonuses along the way such as ELO’s “Mr Blue Sky” and Beck’s “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometimes” a repetitive tune featured in many incidences throughout the film as great accompaniment to the overall mood.

Although not an instant classic, the film is far from forgettable. Excuse me for that pun, I couldn’t help myself. Although the genre of memory-loss is usually something very exhausted by Hollywood, it feels comfortable in this urban love story. “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” manages to secure itself as a solid four star picture – if not five. I’ll tell you again on my next viewing…