Film Reviews - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Jim Carrey can act!
Far too often I've sat back and watched Jim Carrey in a comedy
and he has replied on silly expressions on his face or silly
"one liners" that you either love or you hate.
Don't get me wrong, sometimes this does work and when you look
at "Bruce Almighty" you find it difficult to imagine any other
actor playing the role, but it does make you wonder if the man
can actually act, does he rely on his "silly faces" too much?
Eternal Sunshine is not an "out and out funny" film - it has its
moments, you will laugh but at the same time you will cry, you
will think about the film and you will think about the message
it is attempting to put across.
The plot may sound simple enough however the film is shot in
such a way to add confusion and the "back to front" order of
some scenes can make following things difficult at times.
Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) had a
relationship. Things went wrong and Clementine underwent an
operation whereby all of her memories of Joel are removed.
Once Joel finds this out he too decides to have the same
treatment and have all memories of Clementine removed from his
own mind. It is only during this operation that he realises that
he doesn't want to lose those memories, they he treasures them
too much.
It is too late to stop the operation, so Joel attempts to hide
his memories of Clementine inside other memories in the hope
that he can get through the night and the operation and still
remember Clementine and can then try again with their
relationship.
Joel attempts to outrun the "erasers", he realises that he truly
loved Clementine and despite their arguments, despite the
embarrassing moments and despite the fact she "erased him first"
he really doesn't want to forget the time he spent with her.
There are many questions asked throughout the film, one of the
most important ones is about "fate" and are we destined to meet
certain people, to fall in love with certain people?
Although Joel and Clementine erase each other from their minds
they end up falling back in love with one another again after a
chance meeting.
We meet the owner of the "erasing film" and learn that he had an
affair with his secretary who in turn had the same operation -
they decided it was "for the best". The secretary (Kirsten Dunst)
soon finds herself falling for her boss, history is attempting
to repeat itself again.
Eternal Sunshine is an amazing film. The trailers may have given
you the impression of a comedy - that is certainly not the case.
You will laugh and you will cry and you will find yourself
forming a relationship with the characters. Kate Winslet is
perfect as Clementine and surprisingly Jim Carrey is amazing as
Joel.
Many people have described this as "the film of 2004" and
although we are less than half way through the year I can see
where they are coming from. This is a "must see" film - you will
enjoy it and you will leave the cinema with a warm glow inside,
you will also want to see this film again!
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