Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a film by Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry that strays far from what is known as a normal "Hollywood Film". Jeff Otto, the critic of this film, sees the movie as a demonstration of a relationship that has gone wrong.
Kaufman and Gondry have fired at full force on every cylinder to create a
beautiful, touching and realistic portrayal of a relationship gone awry. By
realistic, I mean the realistic, flawed relationship of Clementine (Kate
Winslet) and Joel (Jim Carrey), not the memory-erasing plot device.
beautiful, touching and realistic portrayal of a relationship gone awry. By
realistic, I mean the realistic, flawed relationship of Clementine (Kate
Winslet) and Joel (Jim Carrey), not the memory-erasing plot device.
I couldn't have said it better. This film is a story about the relationship of Clemintine (Winslet) and Joel (Carrey). Joel is an extremely quiet man, a thinker some would say, and Clemintine is outgoing and displays quite bizarre behavior throughout the film. They fall in love, but after a fight Clemintine decides to have her memory erased of her entire relationship with Joel. Joel eventually figures out what has happened and does the same. While the memory erasing process is taking place, though, he decides that he doesn't want to loose his memories of Clemintine. The movie goes back and forth from memory to reality as Joel fights for his loving memories of Clemintine. Jeff Otto sees the story in much of the same light as I do. He enjoys the twisted plot and how in all the surrealism there is still so much that can be related to real life relationships.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a wonderful, thought-provoking film. It
is so rare to see a film that shows real people and their relationships in an
unflinching, honest way.
Another thing I enjoyed on Jeff's critique of this film was his knowledge of the characters and how so much credit was given to their performances. He talks about Jim Carrey and how through his career he has switched back and forth from comedy to drama. "Carrey has never been better." I agree completely with this statement. After seeing many of his comedies from Ace Ventura to Liar Liar you notice a complete twist in style. It takes a great actor to be able to switch from being a complete goof to playing the part of a troubled man with no self confidence.
Jeff also comments on Kaufman's gift for storytelling. I liked this especially because of how original this movie is.
Kaufman breaks the barriers of conventional storytelling, an artist painting
outside the lines.
The movies plot is twisted, but its not so rediculous that you can't follow it. I think Kaufman has definitally shown his talent for storytelling with this film in how there is so much obserdity yet is so easily related to everyday life. All in all I truely enjoed Jeff Otto's critique of this film and couldn't agree with it more. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the better films I have ever seen and it is nice to see credit given where it is so well deserved.
