Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Okay. I finally saw this flick last night... all I have to say is: Holy Shit. This movie was fantastic. And why, you ask, was this movie so good? Allow me to explain in 296 words!
First off, the premise alone is terrific. Being able to delete every trace of a painful memory (i.e. an ex-lover, the popular choice; one client brought in all the paraphernalia of a beloved pet) is one of the most original ideas for a movie I have heard in at least a year. Damn it's good.
The dialogue is natural (Beth described it as something Sam Beckett might write), and the characters... oh, merciful heavens, the characters. Jim Carrey's Joel Barish is a flawed but good-natured human being with some very real hang-ups and issues. Kate Winslet as Clementine Kruczynski is downright superb. Clem is eccentric, impulsive, affectionate, a drinker, and has something of a hair-trigger. Supporting players Thomas Jay Ryan, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson, and Elijah Wood are all terrific as employees of Lacuna (Latin for cavity, gap, etc. Heh.), the company that gives the old memory bank a good hard scrub. None of them are perfect, or display the absolute best in morals. They could all be real people. Real people screw up.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the seamless special effects. As Joel and Clem try to hide in his memories, literally running from one to the next, I was reminded of a similar scenario in Being John Malkovich, also written by Charlie Kaufman. The impact it had, however, was incredible. It won't soon be forgotten.
This film currently ranks #33 in the Top 250 movies of all time. The list is based on online votes, so it's fair to say the ranking has some merit. I certainly enjoyed it enough to put it on the list, but 33 may be a bit steep.
This flick was simply terrific. Of course, given the lateness of my review, you probably already knew that.
First off, the premise alone is terrific. Being able to delete every trace of a painful memory (i.e. an ex-lover, the popular choice; one client brought in all the paraphernalia of a beloved pet) is one of the most original ideas for a movie I have heard in at least a year. Damn it's good.
The dialogue is natural (Beth described it as something Sam Beckett might write), and the characters... oh, merciful heavens, the characters. Jim Carrey's Joel Barish is a flawed but good-natured human being with some very real hang-ups and issues. Kate Winslet as Clementine Kruczynski is downright superb. Clem is eccentric, impulsive, affectionate, a drinker, and has something of a hair-trigger. Supporting players Thomas Jay Ryan, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson, and Elijah Wood are all terrific as employees of Lacuna (Latin for cavity, gap, etc. Heh.), the company that gives the old memory bank a good hard scrub. None of them are perfect, or display the absolute best in morals. They could all be real people. Real people screw up.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the seamless special effects. As Joel and Clem try to hide in his memories, literally running from one to the next, I was reminded of a similar scenario in Being John Malkovich, also written by Charlie Kaufman. The impact it had, however, was incredible. It won't soon be forgotten.
This film currently ranks #33 in the Top 250 movies of all time. The list is based on online votes, so it's fair to say the ranking has some merit. I certainly enjoyed it enough to put it on the list, but 33 may be a bit steep.
This flick was simply terrific. Of course, given the lateness of my review, you probably already knew that.
posted by Casey Jones @ 12/22/2004 02:27:00 PM
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