Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind

In keeping with my indie theme so far, I'm going to review the 2004 indie film, Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind, starring Jim Carrey.


Category: Indie Romantic Drama

Premise: Joel Barish (Jim Carrey), an emotionally-withdrawn man, is heartbroken that his girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) has voluntarily had a micro-lobotomy to erase their relationship from her memory, so he decides to have the same procedure done to him. However, as he watches the memories fade away during the course of the service, he realizes that he still loves her, and tries to stop the erasure before he forgets her entirely.

Zer(o)verview:

This low-budget indie romantic drama has quite a star-studded cast for it's time, and the two leads, as well as the two main supporting actors, perform beyond expectations and above their considerable talent.

After failing to show dramatic talent in Man on the Moon and the Majestic, Jim Carrey delivers a convincing and commanding performance in the lead role of Joel Barish, a relatively-normal guy who stays isolated when it comes to talking about his true feelings, except within the confines of his journal. His quiet personality is jarred when he meets Clementine, a spunky, extroverted free-thinker who Joel becomes captivated with. Kate Winslet portrays Clementine opposite Carrey's Barish, and their on-screen chemistry compliments each other perfectly, even though the character are intended to be polar opposites. But that's part of the charm of the movie, I think; the directors and screenwriters are trying to show that it's not what's right in front of you that should define a relationship, it's the memories and experiences of the two individuals involved.

As for the supporting cast, Elijah Wood, in his first role outside of the Lord of the Rings franchise (to my knowledge; this is 2004 mind you), plays Patrick, one of the erasers working for the doctor that perfected the micro-lobotomy procedure. He becomes enamored with Clementine, and attempts to duplicate the memories she experienced with Joel in an effort to make her fall in love with him. While you're supposed to despise his method of coercing a woman into falling in love with him, you can't help but feel bad for the guy when it never works out, Clementine always feels like something is wrong or gets a sense of deja vu. Kirsten Dunst supports the leads as Mary, another employee of the good doctor's, who functions as a secretary/eraser/gatekeeper (mainly a gatekeeper) who helps and hinders Joel in his journey to stop the memory wipe before it's too late.

Bear in mind that a good chunk of the movie takes place in Joel's house, in his bed, while he's sleeping. The procedure sort-of invades his dreams and makes his memories skip from one place to another, but he can communicate with the people he sees in his dreams (somewhat); watch it, it'll make more sense then me trying to explain it.

Overall, Sunshine is a brilliantly executed, cute, interesting movie that is laden with great talent and charming message.


GROUND ZERO: In my opinion, Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind is the best indie movie of 2004, and it's definitely worth watching, especially if you're a guy looking for an interesting, charming movie to see with a date that won't bore you to death. I mean, I love this movie stand-alone, I don't need a girl as an excuse to watch it; it's that good.

5 out of 5