Film Review

Amnesia - everybody in Hollywood seems to be suffering from it these days. It has always been a useful tool to employ for dramtic effect. Hitchcock used it with Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman in Spellbound, even Frank Sinatra suffered from it in Manchurian Candidate. But lately there have been a slew of films employing the 'amnesia' device: Paycheck, 50 First Dates, Butterfly Effect, Gothika, not to forget(!), Memento, and then the soon-to-be-released remakes of Manchurian Candidate and The Bourne Identity or rather The Bourne Supremacy(amnesia sequel part 2!).

Into this mix comes the latest from writer Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich) and director, Michel Gondry (Human Nature and a load of really cool music videos). Starring Kate Winslett and Jim Carrey the film uses a gadget developed by a company called Lacuna Inc. which is able to erase unwanted memories from the brain. Joel (Carrey) falls in love with Clementine (Winslett), she falls out of love with him and has him 'erased' from her mind. He finds out and decides to do the same, only to discover that... well, I won't give it all away. Suffice to say that this is a really smart film about love and loss, raising the question of whether love is worth the pain it often brings and wondering if memory makes us what we are.

The film presents a quite realistic love story with some scenes that are amazing in their daring. In spite of my own personal distaste of him as an actor, a really good turn is offered by Carrey. It's not that he's restrained, it's just that he is in the hands of a couple of really 'out-there' people in Kaufman and Gondry - 'who can channel his amazing energy and physicality into a well-developed storyline and give him something other than fart jokes or over-the-top girations to play with. An added bonus is a truly great soundtrack, the music underscoring the pathos and tenderness at work in the film.