Review of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) by Miranda Z — 21 Dec 2015
Insanely original and intelligent movie.
A man, Joel (played by Jim Carrey), discovers that his ex-girlfriend, Clementine (played by Kate Winslet), recently had all memories of him erased from her memory. He decides to do the same. However, halfway through the procedure, he has second thoughts. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game as he tries to hide memories of her within his brain, to prevent the erasers getting to them.
Directed by Michel Gondry and co-written by Gondry and Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), this movie has to be one of the most intelligent ever made. Not only clever, but the plot is watertight. Many writers and directors try to be too clever and simply end up with a hole-ridden script as a result. Not so in this case.
There's also a great emotional aspect and profundity to this movie. The movie examines what memories mean to us as humans and the benefits and disadvantages of them, and comes up with some interesting conclusions. The relationship between Joel and Clementine is quite moving too.
Superb performances by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in the lead roles. Good support from Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst.
An absolute must-see.
This review of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) was written by Miranda Z on 21 Dec 2015.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has generally received very positive reviews.
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