Review of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) by Ben L — 05 Jun 2014

Most of this review could be seen as a spoiler, so if you haven't seen this film and don't know what happens in it, just do yourself a favor and watch it right now...I'll wait...I greatly enjoyed this movie, and the entire concept behind it. Who hasn't wished they could erase some unpleasant memories? The idea of erasing an entire person from your mind to save yourself the heart-breaking memories is just a brilliant concept for a film. Perhaps the most surprising part is, despite the fact that this is a film about the fallout from a break-up, somehow it ends up being a very romantic story. It's almost one of those films that teaches that 2 soul mates are destined to be together. The framing of the film is a nice way of adding some intrigue to the beginning, I can only imagine how puzzling that would have felt if I didn't know the premise of the movie going in. Then a massive part of the movie takes place within the mind of Joel. I love the magic of the switch that takes place in the film once Joel hits the positive memories of Clementine. The idea that he suddenly has this change of heart, but is incapable of stopping the erasure is really well-played. I love the cat-and-mouse game he then starts to play with the technicians in his own brain.

Jim Carrey is actually a very good actor in my opinion, and this proves he can do drama. His heart-break is so genuine, that I fully believe he is on the verge of tears. You'd think Jim Carrey as a quiet introvert would be the biggest miscast in cinema history, but I think he nails it. In fact, as an overly introverted person myself, I have to say his portrayal of Joel kind of reminds me of me. So if you're going to cast crazy Jim Carrey as an introvert, who do you cast as the wacky extrovert Clementine? Why sweet little Kate Winslet, of course. I'm not 100% sold that Winslet fully captured the impulsive craziness of Clementine, but her performance is solid. Also, having someone as charming as Winslet in the lead really helps when they make the turn and we are supposed to see why Joel wants so desperately to hold onto Clementine. Then there's the crazy cast of technicians doing the procedure. Kirsten Dunst is very good as Mary. I liked her overly kind demeanor because then the crush feel like a natural result of her personality, which makes the reveal later in the film all the more surprising. Also, she cries very convincingly which is a hard thing for many actresses to do. Tom Wilkinson was also quite good as the man behind the magic. He has a comforting demeanor, so you can see why people who live in a world like ours might be convinced by him that this far-fetched procedure was real. My big problem with the film are the 2 superfluous characters...

I don't have any particular issue with Elijah Wood's or Mark Ruffalo's performance, they do good work. The problem I have is how useless their characters are to the story. I think that the purpose of Patrick's attempt to steal Joel's relationship is intended to show us that it's not what you say or do that creates love, but it is who you are. Yet I don't think they spend enough time on this sub-plot to fully develop that idea. Their relationship is just too far off on the periphery of the main story line, so it doesn't work. On the flip side, while Patrick's story is underdeveloped, Stan doesn't even have one. It's like he's only there to delay the interaction between Dr. Mierzwiak and Mary. He should have been written out of the film because he served no purpose. However including some extra characters that add annoyance instead of more interesting stories doesn't hurt Eternal Sunshine that much. It is still a brilliantly told story. The effects of slowly erasing the memories is so perfectly done. I love how, at first, we see minor things erasing and then slowly entire structures are disintegrating and peoples' faces are being wiped away. They use so many interesting methods: from simple darkness fading things out of our view, to blurring, and even CGI dismantling of things one board at a time. Despite some minor complaints, I found this to be an excellent film, and one I'll enjoy watching again to see what little details I missed the first time.