Thursday, August 07, 2008

My Favorite Part...

... of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
is when Kate Winslet says:
"My crotch is still here, just as you remembered it."
Wait! No, it's any scene between these two:


No no that's not it. It's when Mark Ruffalo
dances around in his underwear, duh...


Then again, I do get a fun freak-out thrill
every time I see Elijah Wood's upside-down eyes...


Not that anything compares to the goofy grin
of complete dumb satisfaction that Jim Carrey wears
when he's a baby being washed in the sink:


No, you know what my favorite part is?
It starts here:


And ends here:


Every single second = total, utter bliss.
.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't have a huge deal of movie-watching experience, but this movie is still my favorite.

Skill of actors/actresses + originality of script + director's imagination = fantastic film.

Anonymous said...

I love, love, love this film...

and everyone involved in this.

Jason Adams said...

It really takes me a lot of mental effort to not post on this movie every day. I have some sort of Eternal Sunshine addiction. It's never far from the top of my thoughts.

Anonymous said...

The film is genius. Definitely one of the very best of the decade. Hearing Kate whisper "Meet me in Montauk" gets me everytime.

Anonymous said...

Yeah. Very possibly the best film of the last 10 years. It's perfect. Seriously. Perfect.

Still cannot believe that with its ardent fans and massive critical support it was a no-show come awards season. Sure, it got Original Screenplay and Kate got a very deserving nod - but were Finding Neverland, Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator, Sideways, and RAY (wtf) all better than this perfection? Sigh.

Emma said...

I didn't ♥ this movie like a lot of people did, but I did enjoy it a lot. My favourite scene with Jim, Kate with their younger selves.

Anonymous said...

Ahh...This film holds a special place in my heart, because it is the movie that first got me started as an avid film fanatic. I first saw it about three years ago. It was 2 AM, and I was about to go to bed, when Sunshine came on HBO. I was fixated and had to continue watching it. I loved it so much, I dreamed about it that night, and immediately bought it the next day to rewatch it. Next I turned to other movies, hoping that I could find other movies as good as this one. The rest, as they say, is history.

Anonymous said...

And have you found any that compare?

Anonymous said...

Agreed. I can't get it out of my head, which is kind of ironic.

Anonymous said...

my fave scene kate in the red wig she morphs into another person/character in that scene alone-

damn you swank damn you all too hell!!!

Agustin said...

Jim Carrey in that movie is me, I'm Joel Barish. They definitely based that character on me. I'm that important.

NATHANIEL R said...

winslet blah blah (no but she is marvelous here)

can we talk about how crazy robbed Jim Carrey was (barely any attention paid) for what is obviously his greatest performance? can we talk about that? ARGH.

I haven't seen this movie in 3 years (eep) perhaps I should put it in the player.

Farzan said...

Nice post, this is one of my favorite Jim Carrey movies, its got a great story

Anonymous said...

There are so many fantastic scenes in Eternal Sunshine, but I'm gonna go for the first meeting/last erasable memory in Montauk. Kate Winslet's line reading of "ah, alcohol" is so perfect, and Jim Carrey manages to break your heart. Just a beautiful movie memory.

Anonymous said...

my favourite scene is when Joel realises that he doesn't want to erase ALL the memories of their relationship, he has that lovely scene with Clementine in bed and she reveals something from her past. She disappears and he tries to chase her under the sheets and he says 'let me keep this one' (or something like that).

Oh, it breaks my heart.

Anonymous said...

It's pretty much perfect. And it grows in your memory, which is the lovely trick of it. I remember the first time I saw it, I was too deep in a dying relationship. Watching it again, when I was older and smarter, it had so much more to say to me.

Marissa Skudlarek said...

Every actor in this movie plays their role to perfection, even the woman who has 1 scene as Tom Wilkinson's wife. Sometimes I think the part where she tells Kirsten Dunst, in a voice full of weary resignation, "Oh honey, you can have him. You already did" is my favorite moment of the movie. Or sometimes I think it's the scene with the circus elephants. Or the final moment. Or...well, you get the idea!

Marshall said...

CHILDREN OF MEN and this jockey back and forth for my favorite film of this decade.

Runs Like A Gay said...

Favourite moment has to be when Jim Carrey says OK about being together in spite of their flaws. At last a film that really nails on the head what love is.

Anonymous said...

No, no, it's when she talks about how she felt so ugly as a child that she named the ugly doll Clementine, and he kisses her and tells her she's pretty... I think this is the same one Franklin Bluth mentioned

Janice said...

//can we talk about how crazy robbed Jim Carrey was (barely any attention paid) for what is obviously his greatest performance? can we talk about that? ARGH.//

THANK YOU! I was astonished that Winslet got a nomination at least and Carrey got...nothing. I love the film but if you do love the film and think it perfect (as I do) then it's insane to overlook Carrey's performance because the film does indeed ride on his shoulders. If his perf had been "off" in any way, the whole thing would have gone wrong.

And I've not been a Carrey fan in general (his performance in Truman Show got a lot of praise at the time but then his schtick would come out now and again for a laugh - I think that perf was overrated and this is the one that deserved the real praise.) He never goes into his patented schtick, is subtle and REALthroughout (which is very important - we have to be able to identify with Joel, regardless of our gender. We've all been there, and if the performance had been a show-off "look at me" star display it would have failed) as the other actors around him get the showier parts. Much praise presumably has to go to the director for guiding the performances to perfection.

Anonymous said...

My favorite moment is Kate's monologue about the ugly doll...harrowing!!! What a pity Kate received just the nomination...she was IMHO way better than Swank (and, frankly, also than Staunton and Bening...let alone Catalina...).
The best film of the year, after 2046...

Mirko S.

verninino said...

The beautiful thing about Sunshine was feeling trapped in a theater with a cluster of dysfunctional lead and supporting characters that would utterly exasperate me in real life (as they did in the first reel or two) only to have those feelings transformed into pure adoration (for the characters, and veneration for the acting, scripting and directing) by the time credits roll.

Not many films improve with dozens of viewings; this one does. It is one of the most compelling examples of why I hold awards in such low regard, without them Sunshine is too easily under-appreciated and forgotten.

Anonymous said...

Favourite scene: "Row, row, row your boat..." Makes me smile every single time I see it.

Neel Mehta said...

Be Kind, Remind.

Anonymous said...

100% agree..favorite movie!

Anonymous said...

There is no way I could point out my favorite scene in this film. I love it from beginning to the end...every single second of it!!!