Movie-a-Day #255 -- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Donald · September 24th, 2005, 11:51 PM

I truly love this movie; it is one of the greatest love stories in cinema. It is quintessential Kaufman, who is absolutely brilliant. I also love Adaptation, and these two movies occupy a spot in my top 15 movies of all time. While not as subtley brilliant as adaptation, ESOTSM is very deep and moving. The cinematography is amazing, as Michel Gondry is a visual genius. With Gondry and Kaufman teaming up, this movie glows with life.

Not many movies make you think of them days and weeks after you watch them. I found myself replaying scenes from the movie in my head constantly. It is great. Jim Carey was jobbed by the Academy for this, as was the movie as a whole. It was nice to see Kaufman recognized for his brilliance, however, nabbing an Oscar for screenplay. I was sorely dissapointed to see Kate Winslet, who may be one of the finest actresses of our generation, clapping in the audience once again instead of getting a golden statue. When she finally does (which she will) it will be very deserved.

This movie is both eye candy and brain candy, which very few movies are. The very concept is amazing, and Kaufman brings it to life in his words and stage. Gondry provides some of the most amazing visuals in film for this, and he gets even more kudos for doing it old-school for the most part. I have a very definite appreciation for directors like Gondry and Scorsece, who (for the most part) shy away from CG scenery and use camera and lighting tricks to create worlds that are amazing. I've heard that George Lucas told Scorsece when shooting Gangs of New York (a great movie) that he could have done all his elaborate sets on computer. I'm sure Martin's eyes and even eyebrows rolled at that one. Yes, doing film the RIGHT way is something I greatly admire.

On a side note, I had a blast doing these little writeups. I am sad to not be able to include a ton of films (I'm a cinema junkie, ever since Cinematography classes in college) such as Chicago, What's Eating Gilbert Grape (to which anyone who ever says Leo can't act means they haven't seen this movie) and North by Northwest. I could go on with what I *could* have profiled, but I'll close my week by saying that a journey through the top 250 movies on IMDB.com would be wise for anyone with any interest in film. Cinema is a wonderful artform, and as my eclectic tastes show, you can love films as diverse as Rashomon and Anchorman simply because they leave you entertained. Now, I can't forgive you for loving White Chicks, however. I have to draw the line somewhere.

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Plot:

Joel (Jim Carrey), discovers that his long-time girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet),has undergone a psychiatrist's (Tom Wilkinson)experimental procedure in which all of her memory of Joel is removed, after the couple has tried for years to get their relationship working fluidly. Frustrated by the idea of still being in love with a woman who doesn't remember their time together, Joel agrees to undergo the procedure as well, to erase his memories of Clementine. The film, which takes place mostly within Joel's mind, follows his memories of Clementine backwards in time as each recent memory is replaced, and the procedure then goes on to the previous one, which is likewise seen, and then erased. Once the process starts, however, Joel realizes he doesn't really want to forget Clementine, so he starts smuggling her away into parts of his memory where she doesn't belong which alters other things about his memories as well...

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Trivia:

When Joel is in his head and is visiting his session of the erasing process, no special effects were used to show the two Joels in the one scene. Jim Carrey had to take off his hat and jacket when he was not in shot and had to quickly sit down in the chair and visa-versa when he has to stand up.

Virtually all of the most bizarre and fascinating scenes in this movie were created with old fashioned camera, editing, lighting and prop/set tricks. The use of digital effects was very limited. The striking kitchen scene with Joel as a child was created with an elaborate forced perspective set-up similar to some used by Peter Jackson in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Despite the fact that Charlie Kaufman's script and Michel Gondry's visual concepts were closely followed, the actors were allowed many chances to improvise. Elijah Wood and Mark Ruffalo improvised extensively, and much of the dialog between Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet resulted from videotaped rehearsal sessions during which the two actors became close by sharing tales of their real life relationships and heartbreaks.

thirty-two · September 25th, 2005, 01:46 AM

I have never seen this movie - but it always intrigued me.

I will definitely have to rent this the next time I'm at Blockbuster.

Thanks for the rec!

Chaplin · September 25th, 2005, 08:13 AM

Terrific week, D-Dogg, you had some really great picks.

As for Eternal Sunshine, I also loved this movie (Adaptation is still my favorite Kaufman script, but this comes close). I thought in Being John Malkovich, Kaufman's writing kind of disconnected me from the characters (the script is very good, don't get me wrong), I didn't feel much for John Cusack or Cameron Diaz at all. In Eternal Sunshine, I felt like I knew Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet's characters--which made it all the more interesting.

Donald · September 25th, 2005, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaplin

Terrific week, D-Dogg, you had some really great picks.

As for Eternal Sunshine, I also loved this movie (Adaptation is still my favorite Kaufman script, but this comes close). I thought in Being John Malkovich, Kaufman's writing kind of disconnected me from the characters (the script is very good, don't get me wrong), I didn't feel much for John Cusack or Cameron Diaz at all. In Eternal Sunshine, I felt like I knew Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet's characters--which made it all the more interesting.

Jim was amazing in this movie. I forgot he was on that sketch comedy show, was the Ace Ventura guy, I forgot everything I knew about Jim Carrey. He was Joel, and that was it. And Kate was Tangerine. I was, and continue to be on repeated veiwings, drawn completely into this movie, and to the characters. Excellent acting, wonderful directing, and an absolute genius writing the script. This is possibly in my top 5 of movies...it's got juuust the right amount of romantic comedy deep inside it (a weakness of mine, I'll admit) to make it top of the DVD stack time and time again.

thirty-two · September 25th, 2005, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D-Dogg

Jim was amazing in this movie. I forgot he was on that sketch comedy show, was the Ace Ventura guy, I forgot everything I knew about Jim Carrey. He was Joel, and that was it. And Kate was Tangerine. I was, and continue to be on repeated veiwings, drawn completely into this movie, and to the characters. Excellent acting, wonderful directing, and an absolute genius writing the script. This is possibly in my top 5 of movies...it's got juuust the right amount of romantic comedy deep inside it (a weakness of mine, I'll admit) to make it top of the DVD stack time and time again.

wow you are REALLY making me NEED to see this movie like RIGHT NOW

one of my favorite qualities in a movie is it's ability to draw me into the characters. once i care for the characters or have a deep interest in them, I am absolutely SOLD on the movie. I enjoy the characters sometimes more than a plot. I love Bridget Jone's because of Bridget, I love the X-Files cuz of Mulder and Scully... etc.

I think I may have to go rent this and watch this movie before the Cardinal game today, heh. Thanks D-Dogg - I need a good movie to watch!!

Pariah · September 25th, 2005, 08:45 AM

Great movie. Really, really great.

Donald · September 25th, 2005, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thirty-two

wow you are REALLY making me NEED to see this movie like RIGHT NOW

one of my favorite qualities in a movie is it's ability to draw me into the characters. once i care for the characters or have a deep interest in them, I am absolutely SOLD on the movie. I enjoy the characters sometimes more than a plot. I love Bridget Jone's because of Bridget, I love the X-Files cuz of Mulder and Scully... etc.

I think I may have to go rent this and watch this movie before the Cardinal game today, heh. Thanks D-Dogg - I need a good movie to watch!!

I really hope you like it. It truly is one of my very, very favorite movies. If you like it, go get Adaptation as well...very different but if you hold through ESOTSM, you should hold through Adaptation.

And yeah, you really, really get to know these two characters, Joel and Clementine. Not right away, but by the end at least I felt like I had been in the same relationship, without all the crazy memory altering stuff.

BTW, I have a sneaking suspicion that you will adore Clementine. Sweet tangerine that she is.

Seriously, if you dig this movie, and haven't seen Adaptation, see that one too...it's on a different level, but the writing in that movie is possibly the best I've ever seen/heard/read.

jenna2891 · September 26th, 2005, 12:11 PM

my favorite movie. gorgeous, moving, beautiful. but dammit, d-dogg, this was going to be one of my movies!

thirty-two · October 2nd, 2005, 06:14 AM

Finally rented this movie last night!

After I watched it once, I was pretty impressed with it. I loved the visuals in it. I decided that I would watch it again, and so I did. LOVED it even more the second time around because I picked up on some things that I didnt on the first viewing.

This was a really enjoyable movie - thanks for the rec!

thirty-two · December 18th, 2005, 05:29 AM

Can I just say, again, that I love this movie?

Bada0Bing · December 18th, 2005, 10:08 PM

I was totally shocked when I saw this movie. I’m always way behind in watching movies so I never hear about movies when they come out. I saw that Jim Carrey was in it, so I figured it would be a silly movie. This was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. The acting was some of the best I’ve ever seen and the plot was the most original since Donnie Darko.

Donald · December 18th, 2005, 11:49 PM

It still burns me up that Kate and Jim got jobbed by the academy for this movie. Especially Jim, not even a nomination for an outstanding turn.

At least Charlie got a (well deserved) trophy though.