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This is the best movie I've seen in years.
Really.
I was a huge fan of the excruciating clever and bizarre "Being Malkovich" as well as the more confusing and cynical, but no less clever "Adaptation", but this new movie really takes the Kaufman weirdness to a different, more humane level. By far, it's his most fully realized and complete script.
Alternately funny, heart-wrenching, philosophically provocative and romantic with a dash of fantasy and sci-fi. It's an adult story with the ultimately classic and basic message that it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.
It's a real tour-de-force for Jim Carrey. Normally I CAN'T STAND Carrey and his incessant mugging and overwrought "Firemarshall Bill" B.S. When he tried his hand at more serious roles like Truman or Majestic, he failed miserably, over-acting like a fool and nauseatingly maudlin, but here, he's right on the mark. He's a shy, introverted artist who crawls out of his shell as the story evolves and he fights to save his memories. And Winslet was a revelation here as well. The perfect sexy and shallow extrovert with insanely dyed hair to draw this poor repressed nerd out of his shell.
I loved the surreality of the movie. It's gritty boho urban banality on the edge of madness feel really kept me involved. The scenes where he keeps looking over his shoulder to find the same scene with his crashed car while the store fronts and signs go more blank with each look were horrifyingly disorienting and just fabulous film making. When the I realized how the front end of the story ties into the back end (without spoiling it), I was extremely satisfied and bemused. The scenes with him trying to plant Winslet into his most repressed memories where she wasn't supposed to be so the stunningly inept scientists couldn't find them to erase them were a riot. The subplot of Kirsten Dunst's relationship with the doctor and how it ties into the Winslet / Carrey relationship was truly inspired.
This is a great, great film.
Follow Ups:
As I've said in a post below, Kaufman's scripts aren't everybody's cup'a tea. While I'll grant that Carry's performance was fine as were others, I couldn't help but feel that I was watching someone's student film due to the nauseatingly shaky hand-held camera shots and scenes that felt more like rehersals than final takes. In the final analysis one should develope some sort of empathy or compassion for the characters in a film, and on that level ESoTSM fails miserably. My appraisal combined with a description the reactions of my wife and one of our friends is just a scroll away!Cheers,
AuPh
Gee, I wish I saw that other thread about this movie before I started this one. This board seems to clutter up with a lot of noise and the worthwhile things get lost off screen.Here's why you're wrong:
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/eternalsunshineofthespotlessmind/
It's one of the best reviewed movies in a long time. 15 reviews giving it a perfect "100", garnering an average score of 87 with 40 reviews? That's an average that you just can't ignore. But hey, it got a 50 in Balmer.Not the biggest fan of random camera movement myself because most of the time it has no point, but the effect was just right for this disorienting story.
I really connected with these people. I know people just like this, don't you? I, like the posters in that other thread, empathized with these characters quite a bit even though I'm closer in age to the doctor than I am to the stars.
nt
I don't know if that means 93% isn't that great or all 6 films are truly excellent.
I wasn't overwhelmed and the folks I was with were even less impressed than I was with the film. We'd read the reviews and I was the one who insisted in our seeing it; BTW, I was roundly blamed afterwards because neither my wife nor our guest really wanted to see this movie. Charlie Kaufman, it would seem, is an acquired taste which some folks will NEVER acquire; I'm one of them, which is my loss or gain dependent upon your viewpoint.AuPh
I did not care for "Human Nature or "Being John Malkovich". I love
"Adaptation". I like "Eternal Sunshine..." So it's not either/or, for me at least.
The abstract quirkiness of Being John Malkovich is at least challenging in a surreal imaginative way. I've never seen Human Nature, so I have no opinion on it, but I'm of the opinion that a film HAS to have characters that I care about in order to hold my interest, regardless of whether they're heroic or villainous. You are correct that it isn't an either/or situation; that's not exactly what I meant by "an acquired taste which some folks will NEVER acquire." I do assess films on a case by case basis, but my negative appraisal of Charlie Kaufman's writing skill is indicative of the general direction he seems headed, if we are to assume that he, as an developing screenwriter, is gravitating toward a certain style. In essence, his style appearsd to be moving farther and farther away from my particular tastes.Of course there are many filmgoers raving about Kaufman's writing. Lots of folks like what he's doing and I respect those differing opinions.
AuPh
It fails on so many basic cinematic levels. The previously mentioned herky jerky camera, the tight cramped shots, the quick cuts, the lighting, the palette. But mostly the mundane characters.By whatever means that were employed, it seemed to be too much of an attemt to capture some of the lightning of Being John M.. Where many of the same elements previously used, did work.
The script (yes, certainly nice when a film actually has one), creates a not too believable mousy male, and a not too believable contrary female. I did enjoy the first twenty minutes inspite of the weakly scripted characters. I liked that the credits didn't roll until then, and that the third character wasn't introduced til then. I'm a fan of Carrey, loved Truman. Thoroughly enjoyed Being John M.. Carrey seems to be in search of the same magic of Truman, or Man on the Moon. I say relax, have fun, don't sweat it, you're trying TOO hard. And Kaufman should get out to a nightclub and have a drink. Shoot some pool, loosen up as well. Yes, the premise for the film was intriguing. But, that's as far as it went.
Some people don't like anchovies or wasabi either.
:o)
I think you were swayed by the other five people you were with. If they all had LOVED the film I think your reaction would've been more positive, don't you?
The reactions of others in a group can sway opinions, and sometimes that even occurs with me, but it's usually only in borderline cases. A good example is the film Dark City, an SF film I saw with a group of 7 or 8 folks, all of whom enjoy this genre similarly to myself. However, our reactions couldn't have been more different regarding Dark City. I enjoyed the film thoroughly, in spite of several overwrought script contrivances, but nearly everyone else left the theater before the movie was even half over. Now I don't believe that the majority's reaction to this film was quite as bad as this would suggest, but enough of the group felt marginally unimpressed that one or two walk outs influenced three or 4 others to regroup in the lobby, ...all except my wife and I, and I think she remained with me out of spousal loyalty! :o)As I mentioned earlier, I actually "liked" ESoTSM more than my wife or our friend (note: there were only three of us on this particular movie outing, not six), but that doesn't mean that I enjoyed the movie enough to recommend it to anyone. If I used a sliding review scale (say 1-5, with 5 being excellent), about all I could give ESoTSM would be a 2 or perhaps 2 1/2; the other scale is even more critical: a movie either "is" a DVD in our collection, or it isn't. On this scale it's doubtful that Eternal Sunshine will ever see the light of day in our home! ;^)
Cheers,
AuPh
s
Remember that couple walking down the street in Annie Hall when Woody asked them how they keep their relationship together?Was that you?
a
When they responded to Woody's "How do you keep your relationship together?' question with "We're shallow and dull people".See, it's funnier if you don't have to explain it.
s
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