Reply #1: Here's My Review of "Eternal Sunshine..."

[Radio_Lady]

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”! What a title! What does it mean? Sounds like you could get to a state of happy ignorance if you could just scrub your brain with Renuzit spot remover. Hmmm, do people still use Renuzit? Well, you know what I mean.

I’ve seen the movie, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. (It is fun to say…kind of catchy.) Having seen the movie, I think I know what it means…but I’m not sure. So, maybe you should go and let me know. Enough with the title, already! What about the flick? To start with the script is a result of collaboration between the director Michel Gondry and weirdo Charlie Kaufman (you know…”Adaptation” guy). So-o-o, we have to expect that this will be off-beat to say the least and probably will be tough “to get”, probably leaving the audience in a state of puzzlement.

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is actually a great film. Some may not “get it” but most of the people at the preview I attended did “get it”, loved it and hated to see it end. Director Gondry obtains wonderful performances from leads Jim Carey as Joel Barish and Kate Winslet as Clementine Kruczynski. Barish is sad, timid, reclusive, scruffy and considers himself unworthy and dull. To his credit, Carey stays in character and suppresses his comic instincts as he almost plays straight man to the ebullient Clementine. When the going gets rough for this unlikely pair, first Clementine, then Joel, out of desperation, each has memories of each other erased. The job is done by the psychiatrist/inventor of the procedure, Dr, Howard Mierzwaik, ably played by Tom Wilkinson. Through the skill of director Gondry and outstanding camera work and editing, we get to experience Joel’s tortured emotions as his memory tracks concerning Clementine are selectively removed. Soon the relief of letting go of what was painful gives way to feelings of loss of all that was good and Joel fights and cries to be awakened to no avail. We travel with him in his mind as he tries to find places in his memory to hide Clementine and we feel his pain when time after time he is robbed of his delight in being with her when everything crumbles and she is gone.

How does this end? Will two people who have had the slate wiped clean venture again, for the sake of love, into the same dangerous and risky relationship or not? Particularly if they have some inkling that this has all happened before? See the movie and find out. This is one of the most creative movies of this year or any year. Oh, yes, the title “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is from a poem by Alexander Pope. I give the movie an A+.