"Technically speaking, the procedure IS brain damage."

That's one of the most chilling lines I've heard in a movie in a long time, and what makes it chilling is the way it's stated totally matter-of-factly. It's a line from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which I watched two nights ago. I found the film brilliant and moving and touching, and its storytelling style -- with avant-garde effects, scene transitions that you don't see coming (and that blur the very idea of "scenes" to begin with), and a circular plot that tells its story completely out of linear fashion -- was riveting. It's really a good movie, and if you're looking for something offbeat, I heartily recommend it.

(The plot, for those unfamiliar with the film, posits a guy named Joel (Jim Carrey) who discovers that his lover, Clementine (Kate Winslett), has undergone a medical procedure to have her memories of him wiped from her brain. So he decides to do the same thing, but then has misgivings and tries to evade the procedure inside his own brain even as the procedure begins.)

I was non-plused by the apparent marketing scheme for the film, as evidenced by the DVD packaging that refers to Eternal Sunshine... as a "romantic comedy". It's an incredibly romantic film, but not in the usual sense of "boy meets girl"; it's much more a meditation on love than a story about love. And there are some very funny parts, but for viewers who think of films like Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally..., or Love, Actually when they think of romantic comedies, Eternal Sunshine... will likely have them wondering where the romance and the laughs are. Both are there, but not in the obvious places; Eternal Sunshine... makes you work for them.

But it's really rewarding if you do.