Since his early start in television (he also wrote for a Fox sitcom Ned and Stacey), writing for film has only allowed Kaufman's ideas to grow in breadth and complexity. With his first screenplay he imagined what it would be like training a human raised in the woods to, well, act like a civilized human. An idea that's been done before, sure, but Kaufman goes way beyond the boy raised by wolves being integrated into society approach and makes an epic tale that is bizarre as it is uncomfortable. Though Human Nature in 2001 never caught on and is now being referenced as a bomb simply because of its non-performance in the box office, the film clearly demonstrates Kaufman's ability to write so outlandishly and so outside the box of convention that it's impossible for anyone watching it to not want to familiarize themselves with his work. The fact that it was Michel Gondry's first feature length film in fact escaped me until the recent press that's circulated around the pair's second film together ‹ Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Since Gondry and Kaufman first teamed up, "Hollywood's most notorious neurotic" has drawn unparalleled attention and praise for a writer. Screenplays for Being John Malkovich in 1999 and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind in 2002 helped solidify his mark on an industry severely marred by repeats and been there done that before methods. Adaptation took it one step further in 2002 by transforming Kaufman into both a character and a celebrity ‹ a larger than life enigma. In it of course, Kaufman wrote himself into a film about a writer attempting to adapt a book about flowers into a screenplay. Oh and as those familiar with the film already know, he skewed reality further when he decided to invent a twin brother and give him a screenwriting credit. Had he won the Oscar for best original screenplay as many feel he deserved, he would have had no choice but to pay homage to Donald, his twin who dies toward the end of the film.

His latest screenplay, which at least one braindead reviewer has said is not very Kaufman-esque (you're kidding right?), charters into similar yet insanely unpredictable territory. In a sense, he's taken Donald's "chase scene" input in Adaptation, gone back into the mind travel of Being John Malkovich, fleshed out the complex identity crisis in Confessions and returned to the exploration of the human condition in Human Nature ‹ all in a film that's peeled back layer by emotional layer.

By now enough has been written about the film for the cynical to groan at the "this isn't your typical Jim Carrey film" assessment that a 4-year-old could make five minutes into the film. Didn't we already cover that in Truman Show? The same could be said for just about every notable actor that's ever appeared in a film written by Kaufman. Was Julia Roberts playing a spy in Confessions... a typical role? Was John Malkovich playing himself being victimized by neurotic losers looking for greener grass typical? Of course not.

Plenty of fuss has been made about Carrey's and leading lady Kate Winslett's performance and while one can't discount the brilliance with which a notorious overactor showed restraint and a respected thespian overacted, even a quick scanning of the script for the film unlocks the true genius.

The script (which can be found on various sites on the Internet) of course doesn't totally match the film. The Tom Waits references are taken out from their conversation early in the film (or toward the end of the film depending on how you look at it) and a whole chunk of dialogue involving the two main characters as senior citizens got the axe. A line I desperately wish I could quote is also not found in the script, but reading through the lines and envisioning this world where memories can be taken away by a couple guys with a laptop computer and a brain monitor is a powerful thing to grasp. It's a commentary on our world in so many ways. We inherantly want to erase certain things from our past yet fail to understand how that past hurt and pain shapes and moulds us.

This theme has been explored before in film, most recently in the popular film Memento where a character is incapable of remembering anything after a serious accident damaged his brain. But while that film leaves you hanging and frustrated, basically feeling like you wasted time and energy being fascinated with the main character's ailment, Eternal Sunshine leaves you in deep thought. It's not filled with the artsy trickery and flair often found in Gondry's music videos. Its message is straight-forward, even if it is filtered through this surreal universe where the main character is racing through his mind, trying desperately to hold on to the memory of his love.

The film's title is borrowed from the Alexander Pope poem ³Eloisa to Abelard,² which is quoted in the film by Mary (Kirsten Dunst), a receptionist at the clinic that performs the mind erasing procedures. When quoting the poem ‹ ³How happy is the blameless vestal¹s lot!/ The world forgetting, by the world forgot./ Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!/ Each pray¹r accepted, and each wish resign¹d" ‹ Mary doesn't realize she has had the procedure done. She is a cheery, happy-go-lucky girl with seemingly no regret, no past worth mentioning. She is painfully unaware. Yet in the end her world crashes around her and there's no way out but to erase memories built upon erased memories.

Who comes up with this kind of stuff? Who writes this?

His name is Charlie Kaufman.