ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

"How happy is the blameless vessels lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each prayer accepted, and each wish resigned."- Alexander Pope

Break-ups are painful, I should know, I've been through my fair share of them. Hasn't everybody wished they could go back and just erase all those painful memories of a past relationship? Well, maybe it's for the better that we can't....at least, that's the question that Eternal Sunshine poses oh so eloquently.

In Eternal Sunshine, Joel (Jim Carrey) comes to the harsh realization that his most recent girlfriend, the effervescent and somewhat bipolar Clementine (Kate Winslet), has had her memory of him erased by a controversial new procedure created by new company Lacuna, Inc. Angry and hurt, Joel attempts to lash back by undergoing the same procedure, only to realize half-way through the memory-erasing process that he has made a terrible mistake. The race is on as Joel desperately attempts to save some memory, any memory of Clementine.

While most people tend to associate Jim Carrey with over-the-top comedies, Eternal Sunshine is nothing of the sort. It does have comedic elements to it, but for the most part the film is a drama. Jim Carrey has shown that he is capable of actual acting in films like The Truman Show and The Majestic....but for my money this is his best role. He gets to mix his comedic stylings with some real emotion as the character of Joel, and it is easy to sympathize with the guy...hell, every time I watch the film I always get a tad bit choked up by his character and his futile quest.

Kate Winslet is also pretty great as Clementine, yet another in the long line of Manic Pixie Dream Girls. You do care about her, and she is super hot (Winslet is not above showing her crotch and ass in some nice, tight panties every now and then....yum). For most of the film, her character represents some part of Joel's subconscious while Joel is unconscious for the procedure. The "REAL" Clementine however, is stuck dealing with a complicated relationship with the creepy Patrick (Elijah Wood), an employee of Lacuna that is doing some pretty devious and unethical things. The always fantastic Mark Ruffalo also appears as another employee of Lacuna, Stan, who is put in charge of Joel's procedure. Also in the cast roster are Kirsten Dunst as Mary, the receptionist at Lacuna and Tom Wilkinson as Howard, the head of Lacuna.....both do fine jobs here as well.

Eternal Sunshine is a simply fantastic film that is bound to speak to anyone who has ever gone through a painful break-up (which, let's be honest here, is everyone). One of the reasons the film works as well as it does is because it was written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michael Gondry....both of which are masters of imagination and style. It also doesn't hurt that the film is built around the desire to erase painful memories, and how that ends up affecting the person and their personality in the long run (By erasing memories are you also erasing everything you learned from the relationship?).

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind is a deep, provocative, tragic and painful movie-going experience....but just like every relationship we experience....it's worth the ride.

5/5 STARS