LogFAQs > #971221362

FYI: I didn't actually destroy the No Country for Old Men DVD. I will reappraise that... eventually. That may be a long time off, but it was probably just the mindset I was in. It was the worst kind of movie imaginable for the time I watched it, which is not a testament to whether it is quality or not.

At any rate, tonight's feature was unfortunately in full screen, not that I'd have known that was the case because the price sticker covered "FULL SCREEN" which sucked. But it was still perfectly viewable and thoroughly enjoyable.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Directed by: Michel Gondy
Written by: Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondy, Pierre Bismuth
Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, Tom Wilkinson
Previous status: Never seen

"She was nice. Nice is good."

What happens when you take Jim Carrey and force him to be the straight man in a comedy-thriller? This, this is what happens. Paired up with an unrecognizable Kate Winslet, who's ALSO cast against type, they have a love affair told in reverse, because the entire concept revolves around memory erasure. Like I said, comedy-thriller. It's not meant to be harrowing. It's meant to be a romcom told as a thriller, with the highlight being this messed-up relationship that actually, when it goes back to its roots, feels perfectly happy and normal.

It's quite brilliant, honestly, and I find myself buzzing. This movie just gets me. Like Joel Barish (Carrey), I have this sense of hopeless romanticism, and any woman who's my type who shows me attention or makes me smile, I fall for. And I often feel like erasing one of them after a rejection, sometimes going so far as to supplant one in my cognition with whoever I can find. This has created a weird cognitive "wife" of mine who behaves exactly like Clementine (Winslet) does in Joel's head, the one who suggests ideas to him and moves his mind in certain directions, such as taking the spontaneous trip to Montauk.

Yes, the out-of-sequence storytelling here takes a completely different level here, with the entire story being told in reverse because the most recent memories are erased at the start of the procedure, the toxic ones, the ones you want erased. It starts at the ending, then goes back to Joel finding out Clementine wiped him, then has him wipe her, and then goes back to why... and we're privy to the Lacuna (the company doing this) employees the entire time. This punk kid Patrick (Wood) is utilizing memories from both Clementine and Joel to seduce her, and due to her psychic connection to Joel, she realizes she's being had and abruptly leaves him. As far as villains go, he's one of the most minor in a movie I've seen as yet, and I honestly wish he got a more brutal beating than the tongue-lashing.

The secondary storyline, which is also fantastic, is among the OTHER Lacuna employees, including its Chief of Staff, Dr. Howard (Wilkinson), having previously had an affair with his secretary Mary (Dunst). After his wife found out, Howard called off the affair and wiped Mary's memory when she suggested it, especially this part about an abortion that Wikipedia mentions. That wasn't in the final cut! Still, this surprised me - a great twist involving what ordinarily would've been something pushed to the side, thus making this cast of characters feel more complete. But Mary quitting and, in a fit of rage, seizing the company's files and mailing them to the patients. Her boyfriend, memory-eraser Stan Fink (Ruffalo, who never gets big and green) knew about her feelings for Howard, but did not know about the procedure - or so he says. Mary still quits anyway and most certainly never got a job in healthcare again. I certainly do not understand why Howard kept her in his employ after that procedure - he had to have known the risks, and should've wiped her memory of having that job at all. (There was also the fact that, while Joel was in bed, Stan and Mary were dancing, smoking, and fucking on top of him, which.................. yeah.)

As the memories unravel, Clementine becomes more and more cognitive, as opposed to who she was in the moment, telling Joel to supplant her into other memories that he wouldn't mind getting rid of - old ones, boring stuff from his childhood, and then being picked on. When the Lacuna crew calls Howard to reset him, the memories fully erase but, as they do, the cognition says to meet the actual her at Montauk, as shown in the opening. This was long after I'd figured out that the beginning was the ending, and so it was. I figured out that the punk who acted weird at Joel's car window was Patrick early, but at first thought he might be a cognition - that wasn't the case, he was confused as to why Joel and Clementine were back together. He surrendered and realized that his scheme had been foiled. She knew the truth. He was lying to her. AND he stole her underwear! Despite the venomous cassettes (in 2004, yes) they got from Mary, they agree that since they were attracted to each other TWICE, might as well try again. And they all lived kinda-sorta sappily ever after!

There are some other laughs, like the "Mama Carrey's kid" line, the Lacuna crew stealing Joel's food to their heart's content, and the general awkwardness of several of the interactions. The facial expressions are great and make for comedy at times, though this isn't a laugh-out-loud comedy. It's just a fun, feel-good romantic story told as a psychological thriller, but without going into what those thrillers usually do. This was what Gondry and Kaufman wanted in creating it: To blend elements of thrillers without actually turning the film into one. It works wonders. And you know what? Winslet absolutely deserved that Oscar nod, because she was a delightful surprise playing an unstable Gen Xer who dyed her hair a different color every other month. Jim Carrey, while recognizable, is playing a role totally unlike him - and he does a fine job, too.

Comparing this to Burn After Reading, the last comedy-thriller I watched, is like apples to oranges. That one was not psychological - it was all meant as one big prank on the viewer, and it was fun for that. This one was both psychological and romantic, and was more feel-good with the way it was uplifting. In a way, this was the panacea I needed - something fun, feel-good, and lighthearted despite being a mindfuck. I loved it. 5/5, though... not gonna gold it. It'll take a rewatch to decide if I do tbh, because this is the kind of movie you have to watch a second time to truly appreciate.

@FarmFox I haven't seen you around much lately, so I hope you enjoyed my write-up here! You're free to nominate more (I have a much longer list now)

Anyone is free to nominate more! I don't care about limits anymore tbh - there's not really much engagement here, sadly :/