There’s nothing ordinary about this uniquely whimsical movie whose concept revolves around a relatively simple question about whether one would be willing to erase the memory of a bad relationship or not. It’s not your typical romantic comedy of today’s standards where everything seems to fall into place so perfectly. The great thing about this movie is that the characters seem real because their characters have faults. It’s taking a glimpse into a real relationship with all the good, the bad, and the ugly. The film is obviously not another movie fabricated by Hollywood that will end up with everything living happily ever after for the rest of their lives. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the brainchild of Charlie Kaufman; Oscar nominated screenwriter for other films, such as Adaptation and Being John Malkovich. The movie itself is poetry in motion. In fact, the title of the film was taken from an Alexander Pope poem. The man at the helm of all the madness is Director Michel Gondry best known as being a music-video director for the likes of Bjork, Radiohead, and The White Stripes. Gondry strays away from all the special effects that his colleagues seem to immerse themselves in and instead opts for the use of cinematography to create the world inside Joel’s mind. Jim Carrey veers from the kind of role which he is best known for, which would be for the rubber faced man who goes for the easy laugh, and instead opts to play the role of Joel Barish a shy, awkward cartoonist who somehow finds himself drawn to his polar opposite, free spirited Barnes & Noble attendant Clementine Kruczynski played by Kate Winslet. Winslet who also strays away from her usual role in period films depicts the role Clementine. Winslet brilliantly conveys in the movie both the brash nature of the character but also her vulnerability in being in the relationship, while Carrey makes you fall in love with an otherwise emotionally withdrawn character. In an interview from Premiere magazine, the director relates what he wanted the film to convey. “There are three parts to the story. My idea was to show in the beginning the excitement of meeting someone. The promises and the sweetness and the possibilities of the future. Something is going to happen to make his life different. The sharp cut to after the breakup and what’s left of the pain. Then start to explore what happened in between, which was the relationship.”Without giving too much information away, essentially what happens is that both Joel and Clementine have their memories of their relationship erased. Clementine has the procedure done first and when Joel finds out he is distraught. He ultimately decides that he’s going to do the same thing. As the television ad for the company that performs the procedure, Lacuna Inc., asks, “Why remember a destructive love affair?” This all doesn’t really matter because the main focus of the film is what goes on in Joel’s mind as his memory of Clementine is being taken away one at a time starting from the most recent memory. The film revolves around the importance of nostalgia and the fact that a person’s memory is something precious, because it is a moment in time that will never happen again. The connection between the two lovers is apparent even if they are obviously wrong for each other. Kaufman has written a wonderful story that will make you want the two lovers to fall in love again but at the same time realize what separated the two in the first place.

Rated RRunning Time: 108 minutesAlso starring: Elijah Wood, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson, and Mark Ruffalo