Where can I watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in Australia?

To consider the position of Charlie Kaufman in the Hollywood universe look at the career M. Night Shyamalan. Once you successfully trick your audience in a film they laugh and then demand that you do it again...and again...and again. Shyamalan's latest film, "The Village," got trashed by a lot of people because it did the surprises were not good enough. Having written "Being John Malkovich," "Adaptation," and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," and facing the daunting prospect of doing it again, Kaufman came up with "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." To be fair, the idea came was given to Kaufman by director Michel Gondry, who got from his friend, the artist Pierre Bismuth, the idea of getting a card in the mail that says "You have been erased from someone's memory." But it was Kaufman who came up with the story.

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is much more of a love story than anything Kaufman has written before, even with the writer's twisted view. The title is taken from Alexander Pope's poem "Eloisa to Abelard," and the story is of Joel Barish (Jim Carrey), who discovers that his ex-girlfriend Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) is not merely pretending not to know who he is, but has actually had her memories of him wiped clean. After going through brief periods of disbelief and outrage, Joel demands that Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) wipe his memory as well. But while he is going through the process and he relives the memories that are being erased, Joel has second thoughts. However, since he is "under" the process what can he do to save his precious memories?

Most of this movie takes place while Joel undergoes the process. The procedure is taking place at an apartment rather than at the office, where Joel is supposed to be monitored by a pair of Mierzwiak's assistants. However, Stan (Mark Ruffalo) is too busy jumping around on the bed with Mary (Kirsten Dunst) while they are both in their underwear. Meanwhile, Patrick (Elijah Wood) has gotten a crush on Clementine and is using some of Joel's choice memories to impress her. As his memories of the good times with Clementine are swept away one by one, Joel tries to find a way to fight back. Then the Clementine of his memories suggests she take him into other memories where she never was so that they can hide out. This is when Stan discovers that Joel has gone "off the map" and has to summon Dr. Mierzwiak to save the day.

The attractive moral here is quite simple: love might be forgettable, but it is still indestructible. Obviously this film is all about memories and the mind, but it also argues the importance of the heart. You have to pay attention to this film because Joel Barish has become unstuck in his memories and once they start to fuse and merge things can get a bit confusing. There are memories that are being remembered, altered, and forgotten, and sometimes they come fast and furious. Still, I think that having cut our teeth on "Pulp Fiction," "Memento," and other films that play fast and loose with the idea of narrative chronology, audiences are more willing to except the roller coaster ride of this 2004 film than they would have a decade ago.

Carey's performance is one of his best. We know full well that he can do dramatic roles, but this time he is doing a markedly better job of stripping away even more of his standard mannerisms and vocal affectations, so that you have no trouble thinking this is Joel. I actually enjoy his dramatic films more than his wild and crazy guy efforts, so I hope the actor finds the positive responses to this role encouraging. The character of Clementine is a free spirit, but since Winslet is playing her there is a sense of weight that you would not get with another actress (e.g., Kate Hudson). That becomes a key reason for us to hope these two find each other again, even if they do not remember who the other one is any more. But in the end it is Kaufman's story that carries this film, which is one of the most unusual love stories you will have ever seen. You can only wonder what Kaufman will come up with next (no idea of the plot, but the director will be Spike Jonze again as it was on "Adaptation").

Great Balls of Fire

1 hr 48 mins

Until its last ten minutes or so, this filmed biography of controversial recording star Jerry Lee Lewis plays like a live-action cartoon. As played by Dennis Quaid, "the killer" is a very mixed-up individual: a saintly sinner, a world-wise naïf, a skilled performer with zero sense of discipline, a loving husband who uses his wife for a punching bag. The story takes place during the years 1956 through 1958, as Lewis rises to the top of the charts with such hits as "Crazy Arms," "A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," and the title tune. Along the way, he falls in love with his second cousin, Myra (Winona Ryder), eventually marrying the girl. When it is revealed that Myra is only 13 years old, Lewis is condemned as a molester and pervert by the public (his disastrous tour of England during this crisis is depicted in hilarious Tex Avery fashion). After establishing a brisk, satirical tone through most of the proceedings, the film plummets into heavy dramatics in its final portions, jarring disastrously with all that has gone before. Otherwise, Quaid is terrific as Lewis (expertly lip-synching to the original records,) and Ryder is equally good as the long-suffering Myra. Featured in the cast are Alec Baldwin as Jerry's cousin Jimmy Swaggart (the same!), Michael St. Gerard as Lewis' great rival Elvis, and Steve Allen as himself.

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