Apr 27th 2004 01:26 pm You are my sunshine (minor movie spoilers)
At last, the long promised entry about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Really, my delay in posting about things is getting a little out of control. At first everything was just a day late - I could justify that with the need for objective distance, or the like. Now it’s just an anarchic free-for-all that will only result in the degradation of my moral foundation and inevitably lead to the drowning of my sorrows in the bottle, reminiscing about the old days, and my untimely death at the hands of an irate and not easily placated plastic rhinoceros-shark hybrid gone wrong. We have to nip this thing before it gets out of hand.
Eternal Sunshine was simply wonderful. The premise: Joel’s and Clementine’s relationship has gone sour. After a fight whose subject resonates throughout the movie, Clementine impulsively decides to undergo a procedure that will erase Joel and their entire relationship from her memory. The next day, when Joel appears at Clem’s workplace, she does not recognize him. Distraught, Joel turns to friends, who reveal the details of Clem’s “operation,” and Joel decides he must erase Clementine as well. He sets his appointment up, and they begin the procedure while he sleeps that night. Subconsciously, Joel begins to regret his decision, and to resist the deletion of his memories.
Kaufman delivers another spectacular film here, to no one’s particular surprise. The directing and photography is similarly beautiful. Jim Carrey gives an extraordinary performance playing the understated Joel, and Kate Winslet gives a characteristically excellent performance as the impulsive and energetic, but wounded and uncertain Clementine. There is so much to say in praise of this movie that I cannot think what to write. It must be seen. Go now, and see it!