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Trust Weighted
Great
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80Trust Points
Wick's Review
Summary - Great 4.0
Few love stories are so exquisitely tortured as the one in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. Jim Carrey’s sad sack wants to forget his quirky lover, played winningly by Kate Winslet. Turns out there is a quack who offers a mind-wash. Perfect!
Except it’s not.
However it does set up a brilliantly executed bit of pretzel logic, kind of a time travel vibe without actually traveling through time. Instead it travels through memories, often as they’re being erased.
Acting - Really Great 4.5
Jim Carrey proved himself a first-rate actor playing a lonely guy who goes through hell for love.
Kate Winslet – long since a great actor, er, actress – delivers touchingly as the whack-job he loves, earning this Great Kate her fourth Oscar nomination.
The strong supporting cast includes Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst as an irresponsible couple of medical assistants, Elijah Wood as their more irresponsible coworker and Tom Wilkinson as their quack of a boss.
Male Stars - Really Great 4.5
Female Stars - Really Great 4.5
Female Costars - Great 4.0
Male Costars - Great 4.0
Film - Great 4.0
Tortured genius Charlie Kaufman, French video director Michel Gondry and a guy named Pierre Bismuth wrote the Oscar winning screenplay, which Gondry then directed. Kudos to them for exploring the nature of romantic commitment, which they do by offering the out of a memory wipe, and then yank it back to see what happens when TMI is shared between lovers.
It’s often not pretty and a bit difficult to follow, but sure is brilliant.
Direction - Really Great 4.5
Dialogue - Great 4.0
Touches of Nietzschean philosophy and virtual time travel make *Eternal Sunshine* an intellectually challenging film.Music - Very Good 3.5
Visuals - Very Good 3.5
Edge - Risqué 2.0
Sex Titillating 2.0
Violence Gentle 1.5
Rudeness Salty 2.5
Reality - Glib 1.8
Circumstantial - Glib 1.5
Biological - Surreal 3.0
Physical - Natural 1.0
2 Comments
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Wick May 12, 2013 12:06PM
Regarding Tripod’s Review
“When a fella says I do at his wedding he is contractually agreeing to being married once to five different women, and Clementine is that primer for the observant male.” Now that’s getting a lot out of a movie. -
Wick Sep 2, 2010 7:31AM
Regarding MetalJunky5000’s Review
I’m with you Junky in appreciating Charlie Kaufman. The guy’s certainly one of the most interesting and brilliant screenwriters working today. It’s been a few years, but I seem to recall liking Adaptation and Being John Malkovich as much or more than ESOTSM.