#5: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Another major talent I was exposed to this decade, and who really came into their own, was Charlie Kaufmann, the screenwriter. His Adaptation (2002) and this film both garnered Oscar Nominations (as did the past decade's Being John Malkovich) and he won for this film for Best Original Screenplay. And there really is no other way to put it, this really is one of the most original things I've seen.

Jim Carrey stars in what is quite possibly his best role, as Joel Barrish, a hapless man who falls for Clementine (Kate Winslet) and begins a romantic relationship with her. However, after they have a big fight, she has her memories of him erased, and so he, distraught, decides to have the same procedure performed on him. Slowly, throughout the erasing process, he realizes that there were plenty of good times with Clementine as well, and he wants to hold on to them.

This movie is directed by Michel Gondry, who certainly has a panache for visual artistry, but really is quite inept at developing his own stories (see The Science of Sleep). He co-wrote the story with Kaufmann, but it is Kaufmann's script that is the real star here. It is about love, and the message it is better to have love and lost then to not have loved at all rings loud as a bell here. But Kaufmann also illustrates how we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes if we don't learn from them. Not just from the Joel/Clementine bookend segment, but also with a great subplot involving Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo, and Elijah Wood (in his creepiest role ever). The film ends with a lack of finality, but affirms how powerful real relationships are, and how worth it they can be.

Kaufmann also went on to direct and write the ill-received Synecdoche, New York (2008), though I enjoyed that film immensely. True, I admit that Kaufmann went a little too far with that one, but I still enjoyed its dare, its willingness to break the mold. Any of Kaufmann's films are quite unlike something you have seen, though they definitely echo with famous tales of times past. One things for sure, I will be keeping my eye on him in the coming decades and eagerly await whatever he puts out there for us.