Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. So excited. So very excited. Can't. Stop. Reading. Reviews. Of. It. This may overwhelm Cinecultist's very high expectations into an unreachable place where fantasy about the ultimate movies lie. Or perhaps not, since we are one of the few people we know who actually liked Human Nature (the first Kauffman/Gondry collaboration about evolution and sexual impulse. We thought it was charmingly weird). Join us in the review reading binge, it will make us feel better about our obsessive tendencies.
Peter Travers in Rolling Stone says, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind chases so many ideas that it threatens to spin out of control. But with our multiplexes stuffed with toxic Hollywood formula, it's a gift to find a ballsy movie that thinks it can do anything, and damn near does."
J. Hoberman in the Village Voice says, "Shot through with intimations of mental illness, Eternal Sunshine is scarcely as cheerful as its title suggests (although an Ingmar Bergman remake might be truly sidesplitting). It's playful and a bit grueling—like love itself—and there's a sad shabbiness unlike anything in current American movies.
Anthony Lane in the New Yorker raves a little less than one might expect, but he's British, so we can discount him a bit. "In truth, when one looks back on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, one realizes how little of the movie has been devoted to the business of loving, let alone of making love. We get a double helping of first dates, and a bunch of barking arguments, but this is a romance assailed by time, and the promise of uncluttered bliss that is proffered by the title is held witheringly at bay."
Update: Even Aaron of Out of Focus has seen it and offered his astute but fawning opinion! "In an era when people are confusing Mel Gibson with God and a Janet Jackson performance has become known as "nipplegate" while sending shockwaves through the broadcasting industry, I just wish that we could spend more time focusing on a film which proves that not all movies are just popular entertainment but great works of cinematic art still can be."
Damn. Must See This Movie. Must See It Soon.
Posted by karen at March 18, 2004 8:04 AM