Review of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) by The Panda — 28 Mar 2014

The movie had an intriguing start for me, especially since going into it I just knew a lot of people had liked the movie (and Jim Carrey's performance) but I had never gotten around to seeing it, so I had no idea what to expect except to expect something good, and boy was this good. While I did end up predicting how it was going to end a little less than halfway through the movie that doesn't mean it was anything near predictable, in fact it was very original, I just typically pick up on things very quickly in movies (I was able to fully understand Inception in one viewing fairly easily. In fact Inception did nothing to work my mind at all, although I find that a bad example because I still to this day don't see how Inception blows anybodies mind.) So I will say this movie blew my mind (for a little bit) when it clicked in my brain what was happening at that midway point in the movie. Although I will say that made the movie a tad bit less enjoyable after I already figured out how it was going to end, but that's not the movie's fault.

If I was going to compare this movie to anything it would probably end up being, The Truman Show, it was another Jim Carrey movie where he played a much more serious role with a very unique and intriguing script (which Truman Show completely blew my mind when I saw it, btw, but then again I was much younger. And when I re-watched it today it showed a whole lot more relevancy to today's times and how far ahead of it's time it was, although that's for a different review) and they both have great quality. Also the overall gist of the story is very similar in terms of Jim Carrey's character's (Joel) motive in ESoaSM and Truman Show when it comes to holding on to that girl. Although, i'll stop comparing them now because it would make this sound like a re-hash of the Truman Show and it is in no way that, I was just pointing out a lot of the similarities, and those are good similarities to have when it comes to this movie.

Now, onto the performances in the movie, Jim Carrey did a fantastic job as that slightly awkward quiet guy and was very relatable, and you see so much progression of his character (even when the majority of the movie takes place inside his own mind). Kate Winslet, who played the romantic counterpart to Carrey, did a fine job as well and was also very believable but I won't commend it as much because she had a much easier role to play than Carrey (even if her character arguably had more personality than Carrey's). Kirsten Dunst, while at first didn't seem all to noticeable had a big part within the movie and she did fine as well, although if I had to point to one character being the least believable out of any of them it'd be her's, she just didn't exactly get the character as well as she could have. Tom Wilkinson, whose role was small but important, did good for the scenes he was in. I can say for the character's that weren't Jim Carrey's or Kate Winslet the best performances came out of Elijah Wood and Mark Ruffalo, they did a great job at their role's, believable, and for Elijah Wood's completely despicable at certain points in the movie (although the script didn't spend much time dwelling on it, but it was gut-wrenching watching it when it did happen.).

Now onto probably the best part of the movie, and that is the great direction and fantastic screenplay which mixed fantastically with the subtle score (which, although at points would be abrupt, was chilling and completely captured the tone). There were so many moments of brilliance (and probably my favorite two were the "quote scene" and the "house scene" near the end, which people who have seen at will get without giving them away) within the film and it did a good job balancing the lighter stuff with the deeper sections, although the deeper sections were always what were memorable, some of the lighter stuff felt a bit forced at times as if it were only there to satisfy the rom-com crowd (but only slightly and briefly). There are so many intriguing looks into the human memory and has great commentary on how when you wish something would go away you aren't really realizing what you are truly realizing. There were many parts where the script, direction, cinematography, performances, and track all worked so perfectly together and it brought tears in my eyes, the scenes were beautiful and my actual biggest gripe is about these scenes in that they didn't stretch them out long enough, they felt like they ended abruptly at times (I get the point behind this though) and the lighter sections again felt like tonal off-balance compared to these. My last gripe is about the ending in not that it wasn't a great ending but that I wish it could have ended a bit more ambiguously. I'll end my review with my favorite quote from the film (that was a quote quoted in the film), "How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;". 9.5/10 for Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind.