Get Your Reps In: Bask in the “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”

What to see at Portland’s repertory theaters.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (IMDB)
By Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

There’s not a tourism board in New York that could dream up a better campaign for Montauk in February than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

The beaches where amnesiac ex-lovers Clementine (Kate Winslet) and Joel (Jim Carrey) meet and meet again have such a vacant, bracing beauty that they almost make literal the romantic possibility of memories wiped clean. Between those rendezvous, Joel and Clem spend most of Eternal Sunshine fleeing backward through Joel’s deepest memory banks, just one step ahead of the amateur neurologists (Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo) whom Joel and Clem hired to erase their heartbreak.

This unlikely Valentine’s Day rumination plays a smidge late this year: Feb. 21–27 at the Academy Theater.

Twenty-one years after its initial release, Eternal Sunshine is still a testament to that flickering moment when Carrey surrendered his abilities to great filmmakers, as well as composer Jon Brion’s facility with aching woodwinds and the last time screenwriting legend Charlie Kaufman was hopeful about anything.

Also Playing:

5th Avenue: Drylongso (1998), Feb. 21-23. Academy: Casablanca (1942), Feb. 21–27. Menace II Society (1993), Feb. 21–27. Cinema 21: Wild at Heart (1990), Feb. 19. The Host (2006), Feb. 21 and 22. Eraserhead (1977), Feb. 21 and 22. Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Feb. 22. Cinemagic: Return of the Jedi (1983), Feb. 19. The Dark Knight (2008), Feb. 22–24. Scream (1996), Feb. 21 and 26. There Will Be Blood (2007), Feb. 22, 23 and 25. Clinton: Batman Returns (1992), Feb. 21. Omoiyari: A Song Film by Kishi Bashi (2022), Feb. 22. Mo Better Blues (1990), Feb. 22. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Feb. 22. I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), Feb. 25. Hollywood: Dig! (2004), Feb. 19. The General (1926), Feb. 22. Daisies (1966), Feb. 22. Stop Making Sense (1984), Feb. 22. RRR (2022), Feb. 23. Dolemite (1975), Feb. 25. Tomorrow: North by Northwest (1959), Feb. 21.

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