From: iain
Message:
'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' is the latest film from the
genius that is Charile Kaufman. Much like 'Being John Malcovich' and
'Adaption' it doesn't easily fit in with any genre definition. IMDB has
it listed as a comedy/drama/romance/sci-fi, I'd also add 'fantasy' to
that... it hops through the genre's with merry abandonment.
ESOTSM is about a couple (Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet) who are at the
end of their relationship. Carrey's character, Joel, finds out that
Winslet's character, Clementine, has had a procedure to erase him from
her memories. Joel decides to undergo the same procedure.
The film is essentially about relationships. Joel is a complete
introvert whereas Clementine is an extrovert. When these two polar
opposites are attracted to each other the inevitable happens, the
introvert is scared of losing the extrovert to someone "more
interesting" and the extrovert feels like they can never be themselves.
So through a complete lack of communication the relationship breaks
down. While undergoing the mind erasing procedure Joel comes to realise
this and feels he needs to change things, but first must find a way to
stop the erasure process inside the confines of his memories.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
A strong supporting cast backs the main themes up, with Kirsten Dunst as
a young nurse called Mary. She's in love with her older married boss,
and finds out that she was in love with before, but went through the
procedure herself. It's a definite attempt to make the viewer realise
that even although you can try to erase someone from your memories, your
true feeling are still there, you can't erase them.
The patients who undergo the treatment have to make an audio tape before
the procedure stating their problems with whoever they're erasing. Mary
takes these tapes and sends them out to everyone along with a letter
explaining what's happened. Joel and Clementine have just 'discovered'
each other again when they receive the tapes, and Joel heres all about
Clementines faults from himself while she's present, and vice versa.
In a way I feel like it's the perfect start to their "new" relationship.
The two characters know each others bad points (the way the other viewed
them at least) at the start of the relationship, and not at the end as
per the usual. It got me thinking - maybe if you could get all those
issues out in the open at the start of a relationship you could actually
get on with the business of enjoying each other. However if you did
actually know these things, would you stay or would you go? Both parties
would have to hear the tapes at the same time - if the tapes were heard
one at a time I think the other would run off, freaked out, believing
the other to be a nut. Such is the confinements of social interactions
unfortunately.
*END OF SPOILERS*
Kate Winslet is an absolute joy, she bring Clementine to life. She seems
to revel in the part, and I think she gives her best performance to
date. As someone said on the imdb boards, we see her at her "sweetest
and hottest". Carrey is excellent too, proving yet again that his
talents go far beyond pulling stupid faces. The supporting cast are all
excellent, from Elijiah Wood's panties-stealing Patrick to Mark
Rufallo's eccentric Stan. A special mention to Kirsten Dunst for a great
performance as Mary, she plays a small but key role in the film, and her
mannerisms make the character believable.
This is Michel Gondry's full-lenght feature (you might know his work
from one of the Chemical Brothers music videos) and it's an absolute
masterwork that I feel he's going to have a tough time topping.
Alongside his cinematographer Ellen Kuras and editor Valdis Oskarsdottir
(he's Icelandic and this is his first English-language feature) he has
created something visually which I wouldn't have thought possible on
screen - a perfectly flowing journey through someone's disjointed
memories. The trip through Joel's memories is such a large part of the
film that I really have a hard time getting my head round how long the
sequence must have taken to create. The attention to detail is amazing,
and the whole thing seems so real.
Kaufmun's script is so sharp it almost cuts you. Gondry co-wrote it with
Kaufman, but from a rumour I've heard the only change Gondry actually
made was to the ending. Whereas Kaufmun's was a lot darker and ironic,
Gondry wanted the film to end in a positive light, but still retain an
element of the original. The dialogue is absolutely fantastic. I guess
one of the main reasons I loved it so much was that I feel most people
could relate to the situations the characters found themselves in as
we've all been there at some point in our life. I personally really
empathised with Joel, and even some of the things he says sounded like
things I've said/though myself in the past "How is it possible for me to
fall in love 100 times a day" and especially "talking all the time isn't
communicating".
The music is simply amazing, bringing thoughts of 'Lost in Translation'
and also Paul Thomas Anderson's films. I wasn't surprised to learn that
the music was created by Jon Brion who did the composition for 'Punch
Drunk Love' and 'Magnolia'. The soundtrack is a defo on my 'must
purchase' list.
'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' is released in the UK on Friday
30th April 2004. It's already at 46 in the imdb top 250 films of all
time, and I believe that for once with a recent film, it actually
deserves to be there. Unfortunately I have a lot of other things I'd
like to say about the film but can't, unless I give away the whole film.
Needless to say I'd welcome comments from everyone after seeing it.
(for a fully-hyperlinked copy of this review with images see www.killyourtv.co.uk)
iain
