Playin' those mind games together

Hollywood has never been particularly comfortable within the walls of the human psyche. What more proof do you need then the dreaded dream sequence: a character gets conked on the head, the focus goes soft, and suddenly audiences are treated to an inside look at his "subconscious," which, in cinematic terms, usually means a lot of heavy-handed symbolism cribbed from Jung and a child abuse scenario or two thrown in for kicks.

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is about the only film that actually gets the interiority of the human mind right. But then again, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman has made a career out of tackling high-concept subject matter with wit and ease -- "Being John Malkovich" was all absurd metaphysics, while "Adaptation" turned the art of screenwriting into a self-referential mind-game.

"Eternal Sunshine" begins with the first (or is it the second?) rendezvous between a down-and-out thirtysomething named Joel (played here by an uncharacteristically subdued Jim Carrey), and a manic free-spirit named Clementine (Kate Winslet). He scowls and scribbles in a journal; she bounces around like a tweaker and dyes her hair toxic shades: it's a relationship that's doomed to fail, rehabilitate, and fail again.

Thankfully, there's Lacuna Inc. to break the masochistic cycle. Straight out of a less sinister-minded Philip K. Dick novel, Lacuna's not so model employees specialize in the science of memory erasure. After fastening what looks to be a modified spaghetti strainer to the patient's sleeping head, the Lacuna team proceeds to erase every trace of failed romance or, in one case, a beloved dead dog from memory.

When Joel finds, to his surprise, that Clem suddenly no longer recognizes him, it's only a matter of time before he stumbles on the Lacuna offices and undergoes the procedure himself.

Unfortunately, Joel decides halfway through the operation that he wants to keep some memories of Clem. Helpless to warn the inept memory-erasure crew (comprised of Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood) of his change of heart, Joel must navigate the byways of his own unconscious to escape the procedure with a single happy memory of Clementine.

"Sunshine" is Kaufman's second script to be adapted by French music video auteur Michel Gondry. The first, "Human Nature," was almost universally derided, but with "Sunshine," Gondry has hit his stride with remarkable assurance.

The subject matter is especially suited for a director who cut his teeth crafting surreal, frequently abstract music videos. At its most freewheeling, "Sunshine" feels like one of these videos with narration -- which is one reason Gondry and Kaufman are able to pull off the dive into Joel's psyche.

Yet for all its circuitous storytelling and cerebral concerns, "Sunshine" is, at its heart, a love story. Kaufman's scripts have always had something of a romance movie at their core, usually one involving a lovable, scruffy introvert trying to make headway in the world of women, and this one is no different.

Unlike "Malkovich" or "Adaptation," though, the movie's gimmick never takes precedence over the love story. In fact, the memory-erasure plot enhances its romantic counterpoint. Joel's memories are erased backwards and as he relives them a final time before removal, we can see Joel regressing from the painful final days of his relationship to its happier beginning: he ends up falling in love all over again.

It is innovative tweaks to the traditional screenwriting formula like these that most in the profession would kill for, and it's the reason that Kaufman has become so well regarded..