The "eternal sunshine" of a trailer-less mind -- last Friday, Nat and I finally made it to "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," the latest creation from the brain and pen of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. I loved the film -- it makes a nice, upbeat companion to "Being John Malkovich," the equally trippy but much darker existentio-relationship drama. But as I sat there watching it, it occurred to me that I'd much rather be watching it without having seen anything about it, no trailers, commercials, reviews, etc. The story has an unusual premise, and while the advance notices didn't "give away" the whole movie (which might be impossible in any case, since it has a determinedly non-linear narrative), it would have been very interesting to watch the film and not know where it was headed. Kaufman's scripts are full of unexpected lefthand turns and abrupt changes of tone -- sort of like a "Simpsons" episode, where the story begins may have nothing to do with where it winds up. I guess there's no way to go back and watch it with a clean slate (wait...or is there?), and you can't keep people from talking about the movie after they see it. Maybe I need to turn off my pop culture-o-meter once in a while...I think I've only ever gone to one movie ("Nine Queens") that I didn't know anything about going into the theater. I think that would've made "Eternal Sunshine" even more bizarre and poignant and lyrical.

Not that you shouldn't go see it! In the meantime, if you'd like to contemplate the real and faux science of memory, or the way Hollywood portrays memories on film, click away. Also, here's a mini-interview with director Michel Gondry on his five favorite movies -- one of which is "Back to the Future," yes! Unsurprisingly, that's not on Charlie Kaufman's list.