Head to Head – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I genuinely, genuinely, cannot tell whether or not this week’s entry was cheekily formulated to generate controversy Armond White-style. “The plot is too complicated … it requires you to remember things”. I’m going to act as if Nathan is being 100% serious here and say – are you kidding me?! Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is easily one of the great films of the 21st century (if not of all time). In fact, it’s perhaps the most significant film of the 21st century – at least so far. It’s the only film I can think of that so effortlessly discusses everything significant about life (love, death, guilt, consciousness, friendship, loneliness etc.) in a fresh context. I find myself going all the way back to Annie Hall, Vertigo, The Apartment and even City Lights for adequate comparisons. It’s brave, fascinating, brutally truthful and all-too-human. Yes Nathan, it is a romance AND a sci-fi AND a comedy AND a drama AND an adventure film AND may as well be a documentary on break-ups (or as Guy Maddin would say, a “docufantasia”). Director Michel Gondry (a music video director, but so were David Fincher and Spike Jonze) brings his almost unfathomable inventiveness and unhinged imagination; Charlie Kaufman’s brilliantly tangled script is brimming with pathos and true emotional honesty; Carrey and Winslet give the best performances of their career as the doomed lovers, and give us one of the most relatable film couple in history. I argue that the plot isn’t complicated at all – it simply requires attention. And if you aren’t willing to give a film your complete and utter concentration, then you didn’t deserve to see it in the first place. I recommend you give ESOTSM another chance Nathan, and perhaps this wonderful tale will finally permeate your soul. I only wish you could experience the same feelings as I do when I watch it. Eternal Sunshine is a masterpiece; a film that comes along but once in a lifetime.

Oh, and the Norbit comparison was a low blow.