Laura Gieseking
Staff Writer
April 1, 2004, Page 5
If a die-hard Jim Carrey fan went to “Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind” expecting to view another of Carrey’s popular and hilarious movies, he would leave disappointed and confused.
“Eternal Sunshine” is designed for the eccentric, unsettling pleasure of those who enjoy dark-humored independent films. It stretches the mind’s imagination to the point of near explosion. The movie focuses around a make-shift medical clinic that routinely erases specific people from the memories of its patients. The angle screenwriter Charlie Kaufman took was that of clear poetic license.
Joel, played by Jim Carrey, is stunned to find that Clementine, his girlfriend played by Kate Winslet, had their relationship erased from her memory. Out of desperation, Joel finds the doctor and proceeds to remove Clementine from his memories. As Joel’s memories of Clementine are being erased, he finds out that he is still in love with her and tries to stop the procedure. Not your typical love story.
The movie places the viewer within Joel’s brain. Each scene jumps to one of Joel’s memories of Clementine that is in the process of being erased by the computer program. The odd, dreamlike sequences flash on the screen in a very incomplete nature.
The script lacks background information and dialogue, causing a huge gap between the audience and the characters, leaving viewers little room to have sympathy for the characters.
The choppy and complex script leaves many pieces of the puzzle unsolved. The average movie-goer would have to see it again to fully grasp the film. However, after seeing the movie, even the most dedicated Carrey fan would decide that seeing it once was quite enough.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment