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Movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
In this story of a tragic romance, Jim Carrey plays Joel Barrish a writer that's in an emotional slump in his life. One day he meets Clementine (Kate Winslet) and their romance begins. Soon enough though, their romance goes sour and Clementine decides to have Joel erased from her memory through a procedure offered through Lucina, Inc. Hurt by this, Joel decides to have the same thing done to her, but in the middle of the process, he decides that he doesn't want to go through with it anymore... but it's too late.
Let's start this review with Mr. Charlie Kaufman. The brilliant mind behind "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation" brings us another brain teaser with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Without sounding too cliché, Kaufman is one of the most creative writers out there right now. He has such unique out of the box concepts and adding a level of basic human emotion to them, or maybe vice versa... taking human emotion and whacking them out with incredibly bizarre ideas. At any rate, I have yet to see his talent matched in the writing of today's movies.
The writing behind this film was just as brilliant, and even had a level of emotion barely explored in any of his other films. In Adaptation it was briefly touched upon, but it wasn't until this film where he really dug deep into the romantic attachments between two people. The movie plays out slow in some parts, but always intriguing. And much like Kaufman films, not everything is spelled out for you. You have to use your brain and figure out exactly what happened, which to a degree, leaves it open to interpretation.
Moving on to Michel Gondry, I recently picked up his Directorial Label DVD with his music videos and a documentary and many other features. I was awestruck with some of his videos like Kyle Minogue, Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, and Bjork. He's probably best known for his work on the The White Stripes videos, Hardest Button To Button, and the award winning Fell In Love With A Girl (which was done with Lego's©.) And after his collaboration with Charlie Kaufman in "Human Nature," they were the perfect pair for this film. I wasn't sure how I felt about the (over)use of handheld in the film, however it did give it an extra tone that dollies couldn't. It gives a feeling of disarray, which I know was intended, so I suppose it was effective. Gondry was able to pull off the crazy special effects needed to make this movie what it was. I don't want to give any away, but they are well worth it. Gondry was the right man for the job, as much as I love Spike Jonze (Kaufman's other directorial partner) this film would have been completely different had he had his hands on it. Gondry has such a unique perspective on the world, and it really shows through on everything he does. Stealing a quote from his Directorial DVD, the best way to describe him is "I've been 12 forever."
And last but not least let's discuss the acting. These are the roles that actors dream about having, well at least SHOULD dream about having. Such substance, background, experiences... it's what acting is all about. From the main parts played by Carrey and Winslet, to the small parts by Wood, Ruffalo, Dunst, and Wilkensen, the acting is never cheap or cheesy. In fact, it's one of the best acted films I have seen in awhile. It's not over the top, nor too subtle. So here's the main point that most of you readers might want to know. Since a lot of people, surprisingly, haven't heard about this film, know that it's NOT a typical Jim Carrey film. You'd think after attempt after attempt at breaking free from the comedical chains that he wouldn't be pigeonholed anymore, but the general audience still expects him to put on an over the top performance making them laugh out of their seats. So for those of you who don't know about this film, don't go into it expecting to see that Jim Carrey. And if this film can't get Jim out of the stereotype he's been set into, I don't know what will. He puts forth such a performance that it should be recognized for some sort of award. It's a shame this movie came out so early this year and will probably be over looked by the Academy when the time comes.
Winslet also put forth a really convincing performance. Being an English actress, it's interesting to see them put on an American accent. But she did so and still delivered the perfect compliment to Carrey's performance. Also, Elijah Wood made the right decision choosing this, a small role, right after his stint in Lord of the Rings. I think by doing so it will really help develop his career as a great actor rather than forever keeping everyone thinking of him as Frodo. I'll tell ya, the best part of the acting and directing together is that there wasn't any specific attention drawn to a certain actor as if to say "Hey, here's Jim Carrey! He's in this movie!" (i.e. Bruce Almighty.) Instead it was really focused on what was happening, and Gondry really used the technique of showing the audience only what is necessary to your story very effectively.
So I urge you to go check out this movie. Even if you aren't into this type of film, especially if you aren't, please go check it out and try to expand yours and cinema's horizons with meaningful thought provoking movies, rather than meaningless crap... no movie titles will be named, but you know who you are.
Click here for the Official Movie website
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