Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind is innovative story telling at its best.
I was interested in this movie when I found that some of the critics have listed it as the best movie of 2004 while some as the worst..!!! wow. The movie released sometime back in April-May , however distributors in India thought of giving it a skip, obviously their preconcieved notions of the Indian audience driving their decision. Hence I did watch it in a dvd. Only then I realised what we had missed.
I won’t delve into the story that much, as the reviewer before me had done a great job of describing it. What I must mention is that the story idea is way ahead of its times. The concept of selective memory loss is amazingly fresh, the idea of love expressed in the way it is, is very new and the utmost desire to hold on to your loved ones have never been expressed in a more non-cliche way.
Coupled with the brilliant Kauffman storyline is the simple yet subtle direction of Micheal Gondry which is somewhat non linear and dark and manages to hold the attention of the viewer. Add to the performances of Carrey and Winslet as Joel and Clementine. When we hear of Jim Carrey, we inevitably visualize weird faces and even weirder movies which are nonetheless interesting. But Carrey puts in a stellar performance in this flick, completely unaided by his usual weirdos, this probably is his best performance to date, even surpassing the unforgettable Truman. I am optimistic that he will land up an Oscar nomination for his potralyal of Joel. And then there is Clementine, beautifully depicted by Kate Winslet, with her coloured hair, her casual attire and yet the bond she feels with Joel, Winslet does justice to the character indeed. Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood all chip in with good performances, but the film from the beginning to end belongs to only one person -- Charlie Kaufman.
For me the verdict is very clear, to me it is the best movie of 2004.