Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - 9/10

Directed by: Michel Gondry

Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, and Tom Wilkinson
Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman continued his streak of brilliantly written films by making his 2004 film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, his most surreal and in turn most amazing film. Michel Gondry’s direction also adds to the surrealness of the film, as he seems to perfectly get Kaufman’s point and message. The casting, however, perhaps makes the film. After a few years of ho-hum films and ho-hum roles, Kate Winslet is easily at her best here. She brings a fantastic exuberance and sexiness to Clementine that could never be truly achieved by any other actress. Jim Carrey also shows his ever growing diversity in playing good roles, by playing a different sort of comedy here. He is quite funny but yet does very well at being serious and gives his best performance of all of his roles here. If there’s one small flaw maybe in the film, it’s that the first 20 minutes are quite boring to watch and the film doesn’t seem to find its edge until after the film’s credits show up.

This is the type of flick that Charlie Kaufman was born to write. It’s funny, engrossing, entertaining, and yet pondering. Had it came out six months later, it would easily be the Best Picture of the year.