Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Wins Best Original Screenplay (2004)
When it comes to original screenplays that put an emphasis on actual originality, few names come to mind as quickly as Charlie Kaufman. Despite his reclusiveness and his lack of output since his directorial debut Synecdoche, New York in 2008, Kaufman hit his creative apex with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. (For that title, he shared story credits with French artists Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth.)
Despite only earning two Oscar nominations – Kate Winslet’s comedic turn in this film got a nod and should have won – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was an easy film for the Academy writers branch to love. In this writer’s opinion, there is no finer piece of cinematic screenwriting from the past 15 years. Its genre-mixing is audacious, its non-linear structure is daring, and yet its emotional center is compelling and contemporary.
Its competitors that year were a marvelous bunch, one of the strongest line-up of contenders for writing original work in modern times. Its opponents were as diverse as The Aviator, Vera Drake and The Incredibles. In any other year, any of those three films could have been worthy victors. However, with such life-affirming, imaginatively dazzling, thematically daring material taking one slot, it should surprise nobody that the Academy bestowed this honor on a sublime, completely unique film.
Published: Feb 18, 2015 12:59 pm