Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind DVD > Reviews > Do I Know You?

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Brilliant performances from the entire cast, Carrey and Winslet in particular, original and inventive story, imaginative direction from Michel Gondry .
Disadvantages:	If you've got a short attention span then you might find a few scenes too slow .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Eternal Sunshine. What a weird but wonderful movie. We have Charlie Kaufman (the writer of such wacky scripts such as “Being john Malkovich” and “Adaptation”) to thank for this original yet slightly crazy movie. Movie wise I am up for absolutely anything, but come on this movie starred my favourite actress Kirsten Dunst, and someone hilarious I adore, Jim Carrey, and then we have a hobbit thrown in for good measure. How could I resist? Prior to seeing this movie I refused to read any reviews or see any clips, I just didn’t want to know anything other than the basic plot. The trailer was very amusing yet thankfully didn’t give much of the plot away. After seeing it I was excited as anything!

Joel Barish has been dating Clementine Kruczynski for some time but after an argument one night, Clementine storms out refusing to ever come back. Joel feels bad and decides to apologise by buying her a gift but when he summons up the courage to apologise she stares at him blankly as if she has no idea who he is. Joel is heartbroken and shocked she would do such a thing. Their mutual friends Carrie and Rob decide to tell Joel the truth about Clementine. She underwent a procedure to remove any memory of Joel. At first Joel refuses to believe this, but the more he finds out about it, the more he begins to believe it. The company responsible for the procedure is Lacuna Inc. Joel decides to visit the man in charge of the procedure Dr. Howard Mierzwiak and see what exactly the procedure is about. In a fit of anger and revenge Joel decides to wipe Clementine from his memory.

The people in charge of performing the procedure are Stan and Patrick, too goofy guys who work for Lacuna Inc. That night Stan and Patrick go to Joel’s house to begin the procedure, earlier in the day Joel summoned everything he owned that reminded him of Clementine, and from all these belongings Stan made a map of his brain, knowing what exactly to erase. Joel passes out in his home, which is Stan and Patrick’s cue to begin the procedure. Later on in the evening Stan’s girlfriend Mary who also works for Lacuna Inc. (she’s the secretary) joins them for a bit of a get together. But whilst they’re raiding Joel’s liquor cabinet, something is going wrong with the procedure. Joel, who by now is completely unconscious, doesn’t want to let go of his memories of Clementine.

The story isn’t realistic yet many people will relate to the array of different characters. The characters emotions were realistic which is why you could sympathise with them. I loved the idea of the movie, which is what drew me to film in the first place. The movie itself is just such a contradiction; realistic yet wouldn’t happen in a million years. Also the sequence of events seems to be quite muddled but this actually kept me more interested if not a little bit confused, but in a good way as you’ll find out why at the end. The pace also seems to change quite a lot; a slight disadvantage was that a few scenes did tend to drag on a bit. If movies, which take a while to get going bother you then I highly, doubt this film will satisfy you in any way. A few people I know have complained this film tries to be too arty but I just happen to think it’s a well made film, whether the film makers are trying to be arty or not.

Jim Carrey stunned me, plain and simple. I was so impressed with his performance in the movie “The Truman Show” but he has certainly surpassed himself in “Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind”. Subtlety was the basis of his performance, not once did he crack a laugh out loud joke, or pull a funny face; this was not a typical Jim Carrey affair. At times his character Joel was still funny (in a much more subtle way), but at the same time, shy and reclusive and this definitely gave his character more depth. Carrey was just so natural on screen and not once did his performance seem forced. Not once did I even think of him as one of the looney’s he usually portrays, he just managed to slip into this role so comfortably and that came across on screen. I sincerely hope he gets at least an Oscar nomination for his role in this movie, as he genuinely deserves it.

Kate Winslet is an actress I don’t particularly think much of. Having said that though, Winslet could not have possibly been any more natural on screen, her outlandish performance stood out, and not just because of her ever-changing hair colour. Her perfect American accent also impressed me as I almost forgot she was actually English. The character of Clementine was wild, eccentric, self destructive and at times just plain bizarre, and Winslet portrayed her perfectly.

Kirsten Dunst was one of the main reasons I wanted to see this film and I have to say she impressed me, as there was more to her character Mary then meets the eye. She plays the secretary at Lacuna Inc. At first Mary did seem to be a ditzy blonde and Kirsten played that part of the role perfectly, but slowly as the film continued her character became more emotional and genuine, and Kirsten made the transition perfectly. Good supporting performances came from Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood and Tom Wilkinson. I was especially impressed with Mark Ruffalo who portrayed Stan as a bit of a character with a heart, he's so adorable, it's just impossible not to love him! I'm so jealous of you Kirsten! Aaw I just love him!! Elijah Wood did his best to play a slightly weird, loner though, lol.

Director Michel Gondry has displayed such an inventive style of movie making which meshed perfectly with the script he co-wrote with Charlie Kaufman. Gondry's direction is just great in conveying each insane moment, each shot is just wonderful. It seems Gondry worked so well with the rather complicated script but executed it so well mainly because he managed to portray contradictory emotions, and that’s what made the idea work so well. This film to me was just beautifully made. At times the movie was manic but other times it was mellower, but the shift in tone was portrayed perfectly, it isn’t just a mish mash of different genres forced together for the sake of it. The cinematography was interesting to say the least. Sometimes it was calm, but at other times it was just downright weird but whenever there was a shift in tone the cinematography changed right with it and that’s what definitely made this film stand out. The movie does have its fair share of surreal images (bathing in the kitchen sink for one) but this imaginative imagery makes the film what it is.

Overall I thought this film was great simply because it was so different. It was at times dark, and sometimes subtly comedic but still a beautifully made film. Not only do we have such an original idea but also outstanding performances. I don’t think this will appeal to the masses, just because it’s different. If you’re not in the mood to think then this movie isn’t for you, it’s not full of jokes and interesting banter, but something deeper – which some might consider boring. It’s not exactly a typical Jim Carrey movie, which is why it didn’t do so well at the box office, but still it’s a movie that I adored because it simply made me think. My friend whom I went to see this with, thought the film picked up in the second half. She thought it began quite slowly but I was just engrossed right from the start.

CAST~~

Jim Carrey - Joel Barish
Kate Winslet - Clementine Kruczynski
Kirsten Dunst – Mary
Mark Ruffalo – Stan
Elijah Wood – Patrick
Tom Wilkinson – Dr. Howard Mierzwiak
David Cross – Rob
Jane Adams – Carrie
Thomas Jay Ryan – Frank

DIRECTOR~~

Michel Gondry

CERTIFICATE~~

15

RUNTIME~~

107 min

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