eternal sunshine

After an angry break-up, Joel and Clementine (Jim Carrey & Kate Winslet) take advantage of a procedure that eliminates every unwanted memory of each other from their brains. But when Joel has second thoughts during the procedure he must find some way to cling to the pieces of a relationship he so desperately wanted to be rid of. THE FLICK: Memory is a theme that lends itself very well to the process of moviemaking. What is film if not the virtual downloading of another experience into our willing cranium? And Eternal Sunshine uses this knowledge to its advantage; wrapping itself in non-linear knots around your brain stem with such asphyxiating pleasure it leaves you breathless. But there’s no denying this is a movie that makes you work for it. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) specializes in concepts that shouldn’t be successful in any medium...but somehow are. Here, he introduces a stable of generally unlikable characters – flawed, annoying, loud and pathetic – not even cute enough to be called quirky, and photo chemically burns them into your brain. Getting over the fact that this is not your typical Jim Carrey movie can take a few moments. Carrey’s role as Joel is essentially the screenwriter stand-in, a passive- reactive character that initiates nothing until backed into a corner. And even though he’s received accolades for his performance, it’s truly Kate Winslet who is the movie’s bright shining star. As Clementine, she is the vessel for all of Kaufman’s heart and soul – a raging redhead of contradictions with a personality so powerful it’s no wonder she can’t be erased. Working on an equally high level with Kaufman is director Michel Gondry, who shoots with a sloppy kind of brilliance that disguises his slight of hand. Juggling a narrative that refuses to stay in sequence, Gondry’s kitchen sink approach begs a second and third viewing to discover all the jedi-mind-tricks therein. Eternal Sunshine looks too real to be sci-fi, and that’s a real accomplishment. THE FEATURES: No, you’re not imagining things. Universal released Eternal Sunshine on disc only 3 months ago and already you’re faced with an upgrade. If it helps, think of this as your own personal “for your consideration” copy since the most obvious reason to put the movie out again so quickly is to remind Academy voters about the film’s merits. The first disc in the set is a direct carryover from the initial release – A Look Inside (10 min), which is your standard promo piece, Conversation with Jim Carrey and Michel Gondry (15 min) which includes good on-set footage and discussions on character building, Commentary with Kaufman and Gondry, wherein you get your only real contribution from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, Deleted Scenes (7 min) and a Music Video. Disc Two scores all the new stuff, certainly enough to bother selling off your old copy. Inside the Mind of Michel Gondry (20 min) details the trouble the French director had communicating his ideas about the films “memory transitions,” most of which were accomplished with in-camera effects rather than post-production CG. Anatomy of a Scene: Saratoga Avenue (17 min) proves even the producers didn’t know what was going on in the film all the time. Gondry’s style (and accent) was often inexplicable and never more so than in the scene in which Jim Carrey’s character loops through time on a city street. More info is passed along about the “falling car” effect and musical accompaniment by a Tic Tac orchestra. Conversation with Kate Winslet and Michel Gondry (15 min) is, well, just what you think it is. But the highlight of the new edition has to be 18 more minutes of Deleted Scenes that, among other revelations, finally introduces us to the infamous Naomi (Joel’s pre-Clementine live in girlfriend). And the moment when Kirsten Dunst’s character finds out she had actually “forgotten” she was pregnant is so powerful I can’t believe it didn’t make the final cut.