The Best Films of the Zeroes: 12

12. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND. (2005)
Directed by Michel Gondry

Jim Carrey had already made waves as a serious actor before his starring role in Michel Gondry’s adaptation of Charlie Kaufman’s script. He was terrific in the otherwise ordinary MAN ON THE MOON, and wonderful in Peter Weir’s majestic THE TRUMAN SHOW. This, though, is his best performance to date, and one of the best turns by anyone in the decade.

Alongside Carrey, Kate Winslet is terrific. She takes a character that could have fallen in one of the decade’s most irritating clichés – Kooky Girl – and turns her into a human being, with vulnerability, and empty confidence in spades. She has great chemistry with Carrey too, and their scenes together hum with a palpable authenticity. Further skilled support comes from Tom Wilkinson and Kirsten Dunst, while the peerless Mark Ruffalo is superb, as always.

Carrey plays a man so haunted by his recent break-up that he decides to have his memories of his ex-girlfriend Clementine (Winslet) erased by Lacuna Inc., a company pioneering new memory technologies. Kaufman’s script is as high in concept as his earlier work, be it BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, ADAPTATION or HUMAN NATURE. His latest two films, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and last year’s SYNECDOCHE NEW YORK haven’t seen him become less ambitious, but they have seen him combine that with superb execution.

This is his best film, by far. It’s heartbreakingly sad and romantic all in the same scene. The central story of the main romance is beautifully played by both leads, and judged to perfection, both in the script, and the execution of it, by Gondry. Before this Gondry’s only feature was HUMAN NATURE; a real disappointment. Since, he’s made two beguiling, if slight films: THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP and BE KIND REWIND. This is, simply, streets ahead of anything else he’s been involved with. His visual tics are married, beautifully, to Kaufman’s style.

There are a number of jaw-dropping scenes, both emotionally and from a visual standpoint. It’s Kaufman’s script, high-concept and all; that brings about the best moments, be they the tentative romance between two Lacuna Inc. employees forged while watching countless people erase the memories of their former loved ones, or an absolutely killer final scene, which is either blindly optimistic, or relentlessly cynical, depending on your viewpoint.

The sheer confidence of the film is breathtaking. It’s something that it has in common with the other (five) American films to come in this list, absolute surety, which when allied to the flawlessness of the execution and the audacity of the concept goes to create something extraordinary. With a terrific soundtrack, to boot, this is one of the boldest mainstream American films of the decade, and one of the best.