Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

[baumer]

Discuss

[A Marvel Fanboy]

B+

[Hatebox]

It feels like this movie has been unfairly forgotten. I rewatched it the other day and it still holds up great.

[Jack Nevada]

I think this is a very good movie, even though I didn't like it the first time I saw it. On a second viewing I focused more, and I enjoyed the film immensely. 4/5

[CoolioD1]

I adore this film, and I worship at the altar of Charlie Kaufman, I think he's the best writer in the industry these days.

[Fanboy]

Probably my favourite movie of all time.

Upon first viewing, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind can be confusing. It was for me, and I'm sure this was because of two factors: 1, I was 13 when I first saw it, and 2 because of how easy it is to miss subtle yet essential details to fully understand the plot. While having a confusing plot might sound like a big mistake in crafting a movie, I think it actually makes the film more effective in the first place.

Eternal Sunshine is meant to drain us, really. We feel a little like Joel in the beginning. We're not quite sure what's missing, but we need to go back and find out. This is actually ingenious writing. Even if you completely understood it on first watch, there's little things that foreshadow events and explain certain things that lead to a particular character acting in some sort of a way or why a small detail is necessary to keep things moving the way they move. As you watch, you'll keep noticing things again and again with each viewing. I've seen it at least 10 times and I still pick up new things I had never noticed before.

Even with such an elaborate plot that's always jumping through the time, the film never loses touch with its characters. They're sometimes weird, sometimes funny, and they make decisions we don't like sometimes, but it's obvious they're all looking for the same thing during almost the entire runtime. Happiness. And that's a HUGE point that a lot of movies miss these days. The fact that people are actually supposed to be trying to be happy, and not making events more dramatic than they should be to entertain an audience. It's easy to see how the movie got it's title. "Eternal Sunshine" refers to our obligations to make our lives, for the most part, "eternally" happy. The "Spotless Mind" part comes in when Mary is explaining the work of Lacuna Inc. and Howard's contribution. When we are small children, we have the protection of our parents and impossible imaginations that censor the brutal and horrible things that happen in the real world from us. The spotless mind is the one not limited to logically probable outcomes and ideals, and does not expose us to the ugly things we would deem as terrifying with such a fresh, young mind. On the other hand, you have the relevance to the plot and the original poem. This however is more obvious and I don't feel I need to go into detail about it. Looking back, if there's one thing I don't like about the movie it's Stan's decision to leave in order to progress the plot with Howard and Mary. The "fresh air" cliché has been done many times before, and is somewhat lazy writing. This happens in almost every movie however, and is a very very small problem you could only pick up on by paying close attention.

The work from the actors here is also quite brilliant. You have Jim Carrey stepping out of his usual role as the loud and extroverted character, and instead playing the quiet, shy, and mostly introverted character of Joel. Kate Winslet is the complete opposite. She's louder than she's ever been here, and instead of being a reserved woman like she usually is, she's quick to express her bubbly nature and her cheerful personality. Both actors pull this off perfectly, and it's definitely one of their best works. The one person who I think gets overlooked here is Kirsten Dunst. Dunst can often irritate me with her "shy, good girl" kind of attitude that she usually plays in every role, but the character of Mary isn't like that, and here, neither is Dunst. She's probably the funniest character in the whole film and can really pull off being high. Her attraction to Howard is hilariously built up and repeat viewings can help with this also.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind succeeds on virtually every level. The editing and cinematography are fantastic, the soundtrack fits the film very well, direction is exceptional and the screenplay is your typical, absurd Kaufman premise with much insight and intelligence to back it up. I've mentioned almost nothing about the plot itself, even though it's one of the smartest and original in recent years, and there is a whole lot more points I could rave about, but I won't because you'll probably notice them when you watch it. I'm also kind of tired of writing, but that's beyond the point. I'm actually kind of surprised it's dropping at the same rate as other movies in IMDb's top 250 because of how great it holds up in repeat viewings, especially when you consider that it was the 2nd best movie of the decade according to critics, and it's a movie that I find hard to find a fault in.

I'm not sure how many times I'll have to watch this to lose interest and move on to rave about a different movie, though I think it's safe to say this is what I define as a masterful classic.

A+

[acsc1312]

Saw this again the other night for a third (I think) time. This time it really really clicked with me. I always held it at about an A-, but this viewing really flew it into a favorite of mine. Script is brilliant, Carrey and Winslet are fantastic. A/A+

[IndustriousAngel]

This film gets a little overlooked but it's really a very clever, emotionally satisfying, touching and intelligent film and it's very funny and it's genuine SF. Charlie Kaufmann's a genius, and the cast is a joy to behld. Jim Carrey plays against character (and succeeds remarkably well), Kate Winslet as annoying/lovable love interest with only some toes firmly grounded in reality, Elijah Wood in what must be his funniest role ever as the scheming skirt-chasing mechanic, Tom Wilkinson as the crazy scientist who's slowly loosing control and - my personal favourite and incredibly funny - Kirsten Dunst as Mary, the (one guesses) former psychology student with a (supposedly) boring daytime job, a rather loose grasp of the situation and a big and undeletable crush on her boss: Those are all very captivating performances. The only one who got a bit shortchanged by the script was Mark Ruffalo who's maybe the sanest guy apart from Carrey's Joey.

Endlessly rewatchable, and therefore: A

[Travod]

I watched this a few weeks ago. It was nice but kind of a chore to sit through.

[ChD]

I've watched it a couple times. The first time, It didn't really work. The second time, I really loved it. Carrey was awesome and he deserved some awards recognition. Gotta say Winslet was pretty smoking hot with that hair...^^

 

A-

[luna]

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

 

this was good

 

81/100, A-

[baumer]

Discuss

[A Marvel Fanboy]

A

[IndustriousAngel]

there's already a thread here but I'll copy my thoughts from there:

 

This film gets a little overlooked but it's really a very clever, emotionally satisfying, touching and intelligent film and it's very funny and it's genuine SF. Charlie Kaufmann's a genius, and the cast is a joy to behold. Jim Carrey plays against character (and succeeds remarkably well), Kate Winslet as annoying/lovable love interest with only some toes firmly grounded in reality, Elijah Wood in what must be his funniest role ever as the scheming skirt-chasing mechanic, Tom Wilkinson as the crazy scientist who's slowly loosing control and - my personal favourite and incredibly funny - Kirsten Dunst as Mary, the (one guesses) former psychology student with a (supposedly) boring daytime job, a rather loose grasp of the situation and a big and undeletable crush on her boss: Those are all very captivating performances. The only one who got a bit shortchanged by the script was Mark Ruffalo who's maybe the sanest guy apart from Carrey's Joey.Endlessly rewatchable, and therefore: A

[darkelf]

^^ yep, there are still 2 threads for this but imma post here since this one's in the archive...

 

Anyway, a brilliant movie with great plot and even greater characters, and not only the two main ones, and two more than Oscar worthy performances by the two leads. It doesn't hurt that I'm more or less Joel from this movie...

 

10/10

[The Panda]

One of the best sci-fi movies of all-time and one of my top 10 favorites

[RobinHood26]

A (94)

[CoolioD1]

It's really...

[CoolioD1]

...good.

[Plain Old Tele]

Merged. We lost some votes in the poll, so y'all may want to devote if need be. (They were all As anyway).