The Best Film of 2004: "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
Sunday, June 6, 2010 at 02:44PM 
“Best in Film” Each Year: A Series
• Introduction to “Best in Film” series
This was a great year for weird little movies. From ‘I Heart Huckabees’ through ‘The Woodsman’ to ‘Saved!’ and ‘Team America: World Police’, the films of 2004 challenged us. Larger scale films also challenged our perceptions, like Michael 
Moore’s ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ which allowed us to reconsider who and how we trust; ‘Mean Girls’ reinvented the teen film to address the real problems of young women in our society; ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ brought a new darkness to the boy wizard’s life; and ‘The Incredibles’ became arguably the best Pixar film to date by reconsidering the superhero mythology. The Oscar went to a deserving film, ‘Million Dollar Baby’ and two of my favorite actors worked together for the first time, Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet in ‘Finding Neverland’.
However it was another Winslet film that won my heart that year. ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ should have been a mess of a movie. After all it is a story about erasing minds to help people heal from their problems. The film is told out of sequence and is visually bizarre, as it was directed by visionary director Michel Gondry, best known for music videos like The White Stripes ‘The Hardest Button to Button’ and Bjork’s ‘Army of Me’. However it has become of the most memorable and best loved films of my generation. Jim Carrey is never better and Kate Winslet has never seemed so current. The film is about what it means to truly love and to want to be in love much more than it is about manipulation. A brilliant cast, out of this world direction and another stellar achievement in writing by my hero, Charlie Kaufman.
- The Oscar went to…’Million Dollar Baby’
- #1 at the box office: ‘Shrek 2’
Trailer
Jessica Lyric: Bio
Jessica Lyric is a pop culture enthusiast. She has a life-long passion for film ranging from the birth of cinema to more modern fare. She is a secondary English teacher with degrees in Film, English and Education. She currently lives in Vancouver with her husband, Jordan. Her blog ‘The Film Junkie’s Pop Culture Blog’ focuses on everything from hated actresses to the current television climate and everything in between. Her favorite movie is ‘The Wizard of Oz’; her favorite book is ‘The Corrections’ by Jonathan Franzen; her favorite album is Rilo Kiley’s ‘More Adventurous’; and her all-time favorite TV show is ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’.
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