For whatever reason, sometimes there are movies that I haven't seen, that I come to dislike, simply because of the way everyone fawns over them; Eternal Sunshine is (or rather, was) one of them. However after sitting through it, I've changed my mind. Though it's not quite the masterpiece many make it out to be, it is wonderful, and refreshingly unique. But perhaps the thing I have to give the most credit for is that for ONCE, I was able to tolerate Jim Carrey on screen. For ONCE he abandoned his "look at how much I can contort my face" shtick and actually inhabited a character (and what a great character to inhabit). As Joel, a man who realizes that his ex girlfriend Clementine (a radiant Kate Winslet) has had him erased from her memory and then decides to have the same thing done to him, Carrey finally gets a chance to...act. In fact, the film is full of normally "meh" actors giving good performances: Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, and Elijah Wood (and Tom Wilkinson, but he's very good most of the time and shouldn't be counted among this bunch). With a unique concept that's handled beautifully, director Michel Gondry and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman have created one of the most lovably weird love stories ever put on screen.
Grade: A-
Nominations for 2004: Best Picture (#3), Best Director - Michel Gondry (#3), Best Actress - Kate Winslet (#2), Best Actor - Jim Carrey (#4), Best Supporting Actor - Mark Ruffalo (#5), Best Original Screenplay (#2), Best Editing (#4), Best Cinematography (#5)
No comments:
Post a Comment