The blogger Kevin Lee and critic Matt Zoller Seitz just posted a video essay on one of my favorite films, The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). Moreso than any other film that year, I remember being obsessed by how new and unusual it seemed to me that a story could dance around a single lead and then introduce new characters who are sometimes themselves, and sometimes simply figures that represent the lead’s emotional needs at the time.

What could have been a exercise in navel gazing (Think Synecdoche, New York), evolved into just the perfect mix of subjective narrative with the lead’s interaction in the real world left unbroken. Leading up to the well timed climax, the events in Joel’s head are just as important as his recovery from brain mapping within the story’s real life context. If you haven’t seen it, I can’t reccomend it more.