Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind leaves viewers inspired, spontaneous, hopeful and fearful all at the same time.
Jim Carrey hits his career peak playing Joel Barish in the screenplay by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich). All thoughts of Carrey as a joke character melt away as the film progresses, and it is even easier to take him seriously with a blue-red-orange-haired Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) taking the reins as the wild one.
The film begins with Joel awakening on Valentine's Day 2004. He ditches work at the last minute and barely squeezes between the closing doors of a train to Montauk, N.Y., yet he claims he is not an impulsive person.
Enter the blue-haired, orange sweatshirt-wearing Clementine, who also happens to be in Montauk. Joel catches a glimpse from Clementine at the coffee shop and asks himself, Why do I fall in love with every woman I see who shows me the least bit of attention?
If by attention he means erasure
then yes, Clementine shows him plenty of attention. She is off-the-wall and eccentric, and he is timid and what she calls close-mouthed. But how does that old saying go? Opposites attract?
Oh, do they attract. But once the attraction is gone, there is nothing left for Clementine to do but completely erase the memory of Joel. And so, in a not-so-shocking impulsive move by Clementine, she has the procedure done - and Joel, who does not know what else to do, follows suit.
In an emotionally shaky sequence of events, the story unfolds effortlessly before the viewers' eyes. The quirkiness of the characters is irresistible and the 108-minute film captures a multitude of emotions and invites the imagination to go where it may.
The circular flow of the script works perfectly, definitive of the end is the beginning is the end. The creativity is amazing, but some might find the story hard to follow at times. One way to keep track is to always take notice of Clementine's hair color: blue is post-erasure, and anything else is beforehand.
As the closing credits begin to roll, the lyrics of the music are, Change your heart / it will astound you.
Go to the theater and see Eternal Sunshine. I guarantee it will astound you. 17
Archives
Jennifer Lash
