Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind kate winslet
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For anyone without prior knowledge of the film, the original trailer, a Frankensteining of quirky moments and Daryl Braithwaite’s garish “ As the Days Go By”, could be seen as a death sentence straight into the DVD graveyard. If “ Eternal Sunshine” had not been treated carefully, it may have been destined to fall into bargain bins of Rite Aids everywhere or misplaced on a rack of John Grisham novels, lonely and forgotten.
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To watch one is a brutally uplifting escape, and Kaufman and Gondry managed to craft a perfect tool to navigate bloody rom-com battleground of the early aughts.Īfter the 90s, a decade full of the genre, the new millennium brought the rom-com to factory-line plateau with titles such as “ The Wedding Planner” (2001), “ Just Married” (2003), and my personal trauma, “ Maid in Manhattan” (2002). These are films that are designed to dig into the romantic traumas of viewers through jokes. Romantic comedy is a paradox it is a genre that, while layered with comedy, relies on the anguish of audiences to hit hard. The bubbly torment of “ Eternal Sunshine” comes in a form that is tailor-made for Kaufman’s existentialism. Can memory be visualized? Just look at “ Eternal Sunshine”. What does narcissism sound like? Perhaps the singular voice in “ Anomalisa”. How would we interact with our inner monologues? Turn to “ Adaptation”. With this film, Kaufman emphasizes his unique ability to create sensory images out of intangible ideas. The fluidity and pace at which Joel’s recollections fold on top one another is a perspective on human memory that feels organic and obvious even though there is no reference to what memory looks, smells, or feels like. Faces begin to blur and turn upside down, bodies disappear like a rapture, worlds come crashing down. While alongside the couple sprinting for escape like outlaws on the run, audiences can’t help but feel a sense of peril as the film enters sequences that emit terror and unease. And although he is not in control, he proves to a gifted and determined backseat driver.Īn internal cat-and-mouse pursuit ensues as Joel and Clementine run through his memories in search of solace from the searchlights and alarms wanting to take her away. There’s only one problem- Joel, inside his mind, experiencing memories reviled and cherished, realizes that he’s made a mistake and wants to keep a piece of Clementine around. Once Joel goes to bed, it’s off to the races as Howard and his associates, Stan ( Mark Ruffalo), Patrick ( Elijah Wood), and Mary ( Kirsten Dunst) hunt down memories of Clementine and zap them out of existence. Lacuna’s lead doctor Howard Mierzwiak ( Tom Wilkinson), describes it to Joel as an overnight get-out-of-your-head operation, or “brain damage” to be more precise. For Joel, it’s only fair Clementine erased him first. For erasing personal sufferings is much more important than the plagues of humanity. In the waiting room of their lobby there are other patients looking to permanently scrap thoughts of family members and pets- never world wars or climate change. The company (cult? syndicate?) specializes in a quick procedure where even the worst of memories can be rid of entirely. Painful to the point of both parties opting to undergo memory erasure, courtesy of Lacuna Inc. “ Eternal Sunshine” takes us back into the brain of Joel ( Jim Carrey), a grey coated lowest common denominator with a nondescript job and an unbearable melancholy in the form of his ex-girlfriend, Clementine ( Kate Winslet). Now, sixteen years after the film’s release, I still marvel at what “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is able to achieve despite conceptual and story obstacles stood in the way. Unbeknownst to Kaufman and longtime friend, Frenchman, and film’s director, Michael Gondry, the movie would become a critical success, a box office triumph, and a cult classic speaking the good word to romantics, depressives, and generations of everymen in search of a manic pixie dream girl to call their own. And out of the permutations and possibilities, the last thing many probably expected was a mid-budget romantic comedy titled “ Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”.
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After crusading into John Malkovich, deciphering human nature, tinkering with dangerous minds, and searching for a ghost orchid, moviegoers across the world were excited to see what kind of surrealist conjuring would appear next from Charlie Kaufman.