Album Reviews
Movies
Concert Reviews
Movie Resources
Concert Reviews
Book Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Contact Us

If you're not a hipster or fan of video culture, you probably haven't heard of Michel Gondry yet, but it's only a matter of time. Gondry's first feature film, Human Nature, was a misbegotten mess, but his impressive resume of music videos and commercials has stoked the fires of anticipation for his next movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I'm happy to say that this one largely fulfills Gondry's tremendous promise.

It stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as Joel and Clementine, a New York couple. We first see them meeting on a snowy Long Island beach. On the train back to the city, they flirt with each other but in very different ways. She's aggressive, with her bright blue hair signaling her desire to stand out in the world. When she tells a joke and he doesn't laugh, she punches him a little too hard. He's the opposite--an insecure, interior soul who can't get past his own limitations and furiously writes it all down in his journal. Think Nicolas Cage in Adaptation or maybe John Cusack in Being John Malkovich.

The first few scenes chronicle their growing relationship, as she brings him out of his shell and he attempts to tame her. That can't last long, however, and soon they've broken up. It's a classic boy meets girl, boy loses girl tale, but here's where it gets weird. It turns out that Clementine has elected to perform an experimental procedure whereby all memories of Joel are erased from her brain. When they bump into each other on the street, she treats him as a total stranger, which he is. So distraught by this, Joel decides to undergo the same procedure. Enter Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) and his three assistants: Stan (Mark Ruffalo), Mary (Kirsten Dunst), and Patrick (Elijah Wood).

What follows is a confusing but exhilarating ride, where we enter Joel's memories of his romance with Clementine. But we also switch between those memories and "real" life, sometimes without realizing the difference at first. In fact, the film's playful and disorienting attitude toward time is both a marvelous commentary on the transitory nature of memory and a spectacular narrative trick.

If this sounds like a Charlie Kaufman story, you're right. Kaufman's best known for penning the scripts for both Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. Here, he co-wrote with Gondry, but this only confirms that Gondry and Kaufman think alike. Besides the now-familiar trope of literally going inside someone's head, we also get the exploration of male-female relationships where the man is decidedly not the one in charge. But it's more than just common themes that define a Kaufman story. It's the entire feel of the movie--one that's more cerebral than emotional, challenging the audience to keep up with the characters' flights of fancy, knowing that the audience is smarter than Hollywood usually gives us credit for.

Eternal Sunshine doesn't have just a great script, though. The movie wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting (or effective) without Gondry's marvelous direction. His use of focus (or lack of) and disjointed sound perfectly captures the disorienting nature of moving between reality and memories. His special effects, particularly when Clementine is literally erased from Joel's memory, provoke tremendous emotion. And his editing (with editor Valdis Oskarsdottir) provides some wonderfully haunting moments, in particular a sequence of match-on-action cuts that make it seem as if Joel is entering his own childhood. Jon Brion, whose spectacular score for Punch-Drunk Love was criminally overlooked by the Academy, offers another brilliant accompaniment for a tale of cracked romance.

The actors are top-notch as well. Kate Winslet gives an award-winning performance as Clementine (note to Oscar voters: don't forget this one next winter). She feels like a real person, not just a character, which she could easily have become, under the circumstances. One of the problems with Charlie Kaufman scripts is that sometimes the characters have to serve the ideas, but Winslet is a fine enough actress that she puts flesh and blood on even Kaufman's most abstract themes. Jim Carrey is also strong, equaling his fine portrayal in The Truman Show (to which the character of Joel has some allusions) But maybe because Joel is such a stand-in for Kaufman himself or maybe because Carrey isn't as strong an actor, there are still moments when Joel feels like an idea instead of a person.

This creates problems in the movie's final act, as we in the audience feel further and further detached from the relationship on screen. It doesn't help that the characters of Dr. Mierzwiak and Mary end up being a plot device instead of genuine supporting players. And I say this as one of the biggest fans of both Kirsten Dunst and Tom Wilkinson. Thumbs up, though, to Mark Ruffalo who provides a hilarious send-up of hipster culture.

If you ever get a chance to rent the dvd of Michel Gondry's videos and commercials, I strongly encourage you to do so. His mastery of the short format is simply awe-inspiring. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is testimony that his mastery of the long form is rapidly improving. 

J. Robert Parks  3/14/2004