Well that was a crazy road trip and got more weird the more you watched it and even with small detail that you could easily miss with a blink of an eye. Charlie kaufman, you've done my head in again. It's not mean't to come of a comedy but i found that gerne in it with my sense of humour. I could say i fully understood the message but the more i think of it the more it gets confusing but i thought it was alright and well made and a mind fuck ha
Normally, I like Charlie Kaufman, but this is him at his most pretentious.
Not that it’s all bad, I actually liked most of the first long scene in the car.
It’s the kind of scene that will make many casual viewers dismiss the film right away (due to its length), but I thought it set up both of our leads very well.
Then they arrive at the parents’ house, and my opinion on the film did a 180.
It does what every annoying art movie does (not saying all art movies are like that, I like a lot of them): everything starts to get weird for the sake of trying to be interesting, but without any artistic reasoning.
For example, the acting becomes a nonsensical mix of very grounded performances (our leads) on one side, and extremely heightened, cartoony perfomances on the other side (the parents).
Also, the cinematography is pedestrian at best, and I fail to see the reasoning behind the chosen aspect ratio (unlike films like The Lifghthouse or Mommy).
Just stick to writing, Charlie.
4/10
3 Thoughts After Watching ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’:
I was beyond excited to see this after reading the book — a book that kept me on edge and creeped out the entire time. The ending was wild and left a lot up for interpretation. I was hoping the film would address so many of my questions. Instead, it became something I ultimately didn’t even care about. An awful adaptation.
The insight I had from the book kept me watching the film. I can’t even comprehend how ANYONE who didn’t read the book could make it all the way through, let alone understand how everything was connected.
The best parts of the book (yes, I can’t help but keep comparing) were the horror elements. These were completely removed. I’m all for a reimagining, but for the better. There was so much potential here. And with incredible talent. All lost.
Words cannot describe how stupid, awful, and depressing this movie is.
I wish I could say I liked it, but I didn't and I don't think it's meant to be an enjoyable film. It comes off as pretentious and it tries to make you think it's more complicated than it really is. The film also makes you feel uneasy, simply because there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for the weirdness. It reads like an existential crisis because that's what it is, that's what we're watching. And it also makes you feel this philosophical terror you can't really put into words. However, I already forgot all about the movie, it had no lasting impact, and I won't be watching it again.
Right... So cast was great
About all the rest, what was all that, by the way? Anyone figured out?
A bunch of thoughts voiced as if they're unique and eye opening by a hipster girl. The only way this film could of been redeemed is if her boyfriend shot her and the last words she heard were "shut up you pretentious, hipster bitch."
I could see why someone would enjoy this film. Especially if they weren't one for creating their own complicated thoughts. It'd make them feel sophisticated, indie & like they're being enlightened.
On the other hand, the cinematography was delightful.
"I'm Thinking of Ending Things" is undeniably the work of a brilliant writer with a strong imagination, passion, and care for detail, just like all previous films by Kaufman. However, when compared to the director's previous works, it struggles to reach the same level of emotional connection and intellectual stimulation.
The main issue lies in the fact that, despite numerous hints that more or less guide you toward understanding where the story was headed and what the true theme of the film was, things felt a little too gimmicky for the sake of complexity. A quick Wikipedia search of Ian Reid's original novel will clarify most doubts, but I still believe that a film should be comprehensible on its own without relying on external sources. It's like reading a musical score without a key signature, with all the information clearly in front of your eyes but lacking a frame of reference to hold it all together.
It might sound like I didn't even like it, but in reality, the film was more than entertaining, offering plenty of dense dialogues and stimulating moments driven by impressive acting performances. I simply found it to be a somewhat mannered Kaufman work that is unlikely to leave a lasting impact, more to please the fans than the whole audience.
“Coming home is just...awful.”
Where do I even begin with this movie? Even if I did attempt to explain, it still would not be fulfilling. I don't have words to describe how incredibly touched I was on my first watch. I knew immediately after the first watch that I needed to watch it again. To quote film critic Roger Ebert in his ‘Synecdoche, New York’ review, “I watched it the first time and knew it was a great film and that I had not mastered it.” I am going to start with a traditional structured review like my other ones but depart half-way through with a spoiler review by stating my interpretation for a couple of scenes. This one is going to be different because my head is like a hurricane of thoughts, and I would usually get “brain freeze” whenever I try to explain certain things.
Perhaps I missed something, but I'm not sure what. Or perhaps it just confirmed my deepest darkest fears that no movie has ever addressed. The movie frightened me, but again I do not know why. Some things felt incredibly personal, and yet still I don't know why.
I'm Thinking of-
Sorry for rambling on; I’m not the one to captivate an audience. Look, I know you got better things to do and so do I. Heck, I bet most people who liked this review probably didn’t even read it but trying to be nice. Or maybe some people started to read it but got bored since am taking such a long time to say what I liked about the movie. Am I overthinking it? Should I put unrealistic expectations on myself to write a review that will do justice to what the movie presents? Does it really matter? Is there any point in writing this?
I’m Thinking-
I loved the movie. It’s one of the best movies I’ve seen all year. A poetic and beautiful movie in the strangest of ways. The movie has so much to say about relationships, theatre, past, family, death, etc. So, what does these themes that the movie is trying to say can relate to you? Well, personally, that is for you to decide. A movie that can be interpreted in so many ways but can convey the same emotional gut punch is unique beyond words.
The performances from everyone were all excellent. Jessie Buckley as The Young Women, and Jesse Plemons as Jake, both gave the best performances of their careers and of the year. Both manage to bring every type of emotion that made every scene feel so extraordinary. Also, Plemons has got such a beautiful singing voice, especially the “PACK OF LIES!” part. This guy continues to surprise me.
Toni Collette and David Thewlis were fantastic as Jake’s parents. Just from their mannerisms, delivery of dialogue, and coo coo characteristics made them instantly memorable.
The cinematography, score, writing, editing, and the sound work were nothing short but impeccable. I love how the shots and framing makes the overall setting of the movie feel so limited. Almost like it is coming from one’s imagination and memory of such forgotten places. The quick and unpredictable cuts give the perfect impression of “thinking out loud” and makes the pace feel so disorganized, which adds to the surrealness. I love the gentle and whimsical score with a little touch of sadness, which sings the sweet sorrows from a place that hurts the most.
Not everyone is a Charlie Kaufman fan and if you’re not a fan, then this movie won’t do it for you. Some may be annoyed with the movie “artsy-fartsy” presentation and overall message. Or maybe people are so use to fast food that they have forgotten what an actual meal is. Still, I can totally understand why, but you should not judge this movie as “poorly made” or “being weird for the shake of being weird”, if it wants you to interpret what's going on with such openness, as it leaves so much in the dark.
Spoiler Warning!
Now I will be getting into spoiler area, as I will be discussing and analysing certain scenes, and my own interpretations. So, if you have not seen the movie but want to, then run away from your computer or phone screen. Let us begin.
1.) The Young Woman (Jessie Buckley) is a projection and embodiment of Jakes life. The Young Woman likes poetry, science, and painting. At one point she shows Jake’s parents her paintings on her phone, but the father doesn’t like them, while the mother is more supportive. However, those are Jakes paintings and later when the girlfriend goes down into the basement, there are oiled paintings in the corner, same ones on her phone. Another example would be throughout the movie her shirt kept changing colours because she exists only in his head, and he kept making small mistakes on the persona he created.
I think the reason why Jake did this is because he thought that by placing his interest and hobbies onto this woman that he created in his head, then maybe there might be a spark in their chemistry and hopefully become that “happy” couple that the movies lied to him about. This is the reason why the conversation at the beginning of the movie between the two felt so forced and awkward, which the movie straight away gives you a hint that something is not right. When we start to learn that these are in fact Jake’s, it removes itself from her, and her interaction and mood towards him changes very much. The movie quite literally pulls an Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ on us, when we thought the main character would be the woman, but it was him the whole time. On a second re-watch it becomes much more clear as the camera seems to linger on Jake more. There is a scene where she recites a poem called "Bonedog" by Eva H.D., and halfway through she breaks the fourth wall and looks straight at the camera. Now she is not addressing the poem to us, but towards Jake, as his own subconscious is destroying his fantasy by bringing in a little reality.
2.) Throughout the movie, it would occasionally cut to an old and out of shape school Janitor, as we see him doing his usual cleaning around the school, sometimes with kids around. The kids at the school either stay around and work, whilst others move on. Now the Janitor is meant to be Jake. He dreams, and yet never made his dreams a reality. Some of the kids at the school such as the two mean girls at the beginning mocking him, and the shy girl with the rash on her arms that he walked past briefly would later appear in the Ice Cream scene. He sees kids every day and they become characters in his fantasy with the same characteristics.
3.) The dance scene towards the end (which by the way was so beautiful to watch and unexpected considering where the movie was leading up to), I believe it represents a “what if” scenario for The Janitor (Jake) if he would have just talked to her when he first saw her. Maybe both of them would fall in love and have a perfect life together, which this dance symbolises the dreamy warm delight of love. It just shows you how magical their love could have been. But then The Janitor kills the youthful self that he wished he were. You know, the one who got the girl and lived a happy life. At this point in the movie, he has come to terms that he cannot keep living in his fantasy. So, The Janitor killing young Jake meant that reality has finally hit him, and he finally accepts that things will never be the way he imagined it.
After some thinking, he finally ended it.
4.) I am split between if Jake did or did not kill himself towards the end. A part of me feels like him dying seems like a certainty as it was heavily hinted throughout. Another part of me feels it ends less bleak, as Jake doesn't die. Perhaps a near death experience after nearly freezing to death in his car might have woken him up and see things differently. He finally rejects every negative thing people have said to him and to himself. Finally seeing the cloud with a silver lining. The title itself can convey any meaning for your liking. Mine is a mix bag.
5.) During the musical climax of the movie, Jake sings the musical ‘Oklahoma’, we see everyone in the audience with a couple of familiar faces, who have that powered white face make-up you see in theatre productions, with that comic book lines draw on their faces to represent facial features, which makes them all look old and ghostly. Everyone there was someone he knew in the past. It's like in the TV show ‘The Leftovers’, where Nora (played by Carrie Coon) says that returning to old places to recreate old nostalgic feelings and memories won't be the same, because everyone there has either moved on or left. In the end, you are just a ghost from the past. By not moving on, you find yourself in the same place, wondering why everybody has moved and not you. And yet, you still find yourself returning to that place to hopefully find some healing and deny what is present, but disappointment seems to be the result.
Let me tell you something personal about myself. Sometimes whenever am free and nearby, I would come and visit my old primary school and college. However, these visits became more often. When I first started college, there was this small park next to my college, and I would use to sit at a park bench in my first year on my first day, because I had no one to talk and I was too shy. It was a scary time to be independent when you have no hopes for the future. As the year progress, everything got better. Years later, I went back to that same park and sat down where I use to sit to feel a sense of progression from where I started compared to now, but I felt nothing and after two minutes got up and left. My college is in town and I must get two bus. So, my trips were pointless but every time I tell myself I will feel it again someday. Maybe some good memories will come flooding back. I would also look up old photos whenever I have too much time on my hands, while I listen to music. Sometimes the photos don’t have me in it, but the most frequently ones are old theatre productions from college that I remembered seeing. My attention is not actually on the performers on stage, but the audience members, as I can recognise some familiar faces in the dark. Faces stuck in awe and excitement forever captured in a frame. I would stare at it and imagine years from now when am on stage with a successfully career and doing what I love, while the people I care and love the most are there during my success, hopefully with those same exact facial expressions.
Do not worry, I plan to make my dreams my master.
If only you could step into my shoes to have a better understanding. It will be so much easier if we slipped into other people’s shoes. We will understand each other so much better if we had that power.
I am 21 years old as am writing this review, so the fact I found certain elements of this movie felt so personal makes me wonder what effect it will have years from now. That’s the beauty of the movie, that no age, no gender, no race, or sexuality can’t stop it from feeling so relatable, even if you can’t pin point why, but it is felt, sometimes in the deepest section of your heart and soul that no light can touch. Now that is what I call a great movie.
So yeah, I liked the movie a lot.
Overall rating: I am not sure how to conclude after all of that. Oh wait, I know... “Billy Crystal is a nancy.”
I wish I could put into words how mad this film made me. Firstly , it was so mind numbingly boring that I nearly fell asleep and it felt like a chore to watch through to the end. Way way too long , none of it made any sense , the only thing I liked about it was probably the cinematography. It was a stupid and depressing 2hr and 14min of nonsense. I want those hours of my life back! I don’t care if it’s artsy, the characters were unlikeable and overall it was just awful. Rant over!
I was thinking of ending things, two minutes into this garbage they call a movie.:nauseated_face::wastebasket::sleeping:
Garbage. I hated it. I despise a movie that tries to be deep and fails so miserably because it’s just plain pretentious. Complete nonsense. Waste of two hours and some minutes of your life.
1.5 / 2 directing & technical aspect
1 / 1 story
1 / 1 act I
1 / 1 act II
.5 / 1 act III
1 / 1 acting
1 / 1 writing
.5 / 1 originality
.5 / 1 lasting ability to make you think
0 / 0 misc
8 / 10
Great surreal movie about relationships and life in general. For me, it was one of the easier surreal movies to understand. When you're used to David Lynch, Charlie Kaufman is a breath of fresh air. I may only think I understand it because I'm interpreting this movie in my own way, but that's the whole idea of a surreal movie. The point is, there weren't many things in the movie that made me think "why the hell was that put in the movie?" Everything pretty much made sense as a metaphor, if not in the moment, then by the end of the movie. And that made it enjoyable in a different way than most movies like this.
Yes it is slow. Yes it is weird. When it's surreal, that's pretty much always what you'll get. But if you like introspection, if you like darkness, if you like seeing things that make you think, then this movie is for you. If not, there's plenty of other stuff out there.
That being said, the choice for the 3rd act finale was.... just bad. Not a fan of singing in movies unless it's funny. But that by no means ruins the movie.
This is honestly so bad it makes you laugh, then it ends in a musical where everyone is wearing terrible make up. Not even lying. Oh and it takes over 2 hours to get there. Awful movie.
I lasted one hour before I wanted to blow my brains out and had to stop watching whatever the hell this movie is.
Having read the book a year ago, I was hotly awaiting this silver screen adaptation of such a thrilling short story that floored me upon my first read. While I appreciate what Charlie brought to the table here, I'm loathed to say that he was somehow both the best and worst pick to direct this movie. The best as the man really excels at telling mind bending, experimental, psych-based arthouse movies. He's also the worst because he strays far too much into the pretentious side with this telling, and a lot of the punch and sting of the book is lost.
Still, the movie is quite captivating, and if you're after a diverse palette of thriller, horror, drama and mood piece all in one movie,(and you're more than comfortable with lathargicly paced cinema) you'll be more than satiated with this picture.
I would HIGHLY recommend the book over this; it's much more enthralling while maintaining the weird and creepy vibe that comes with a mental thriller.
Watch the trailer and have an early night. Unless you're an insomniac and could use 2+ hours of yet another excruciatingly Charlie Kaufman existentialist drivel.
Weiiiird movie. After watching it, I really don’t know how to feel. I had to look up everything on Reddit afterwards to understand what happened in the second half, and it was an interesting take, however it was one of those movies that was borderline too obscure that it makes it unenjoyable. Not quite there, but close.
Demonstration of the negative consequential effect of transient emotional desire.
Challenging. This is a very depressing film, and it only gets more and more depressing as you realize what it's about, and what it's trying to say, and how it's trying to say it.
"Other animals live in the present. Humans cannot, so they invented hope."
A film that begs a re-watch. Unfortunately, I don't like beggars.
This film was a bitter disappointment. First off, it's 135 minutes long, and the first 120 minutes is a slow burn. Yet, Kaufman brutally mangled the finale, completely dissociating any meaning from the first two hours of the film from the remaining 15 minutes. He goes "off-script" from the book, for some unknown reason, and he chose to go w/ a plot device that just ruined the film.
The acting was solid, and the story was building nicely, but it ultimately led into a ditch on the side of the road. When Kaufman made the decision to deviate from the novel, he may as well have set fire to the first two hours of the film, b/c it ended up meaning absolutely nothing. If you've read the book, you'll understand what the first two hours were building to. However, w/out that knowledge, watching this film is a gigantic waste of time. I can think of myriad better ways to spend 135 minutes.
I try not to be a downer but having just seen it I feel like I saw a movie totally different than the one critics have seen. I'm glad other people are enjoying it so much! I just wish I had the same experience.
I feel like I would get attacked for this but I found I'm Thinking of Ending Things to be excruciatingly boring and wildly overrated. I don't like throwing around the word pretentious, but that's the best way I can describe this dreary mess. It’s a movie that all the worst people in the world will obsess over.
The dialogue feels so long and how do Kaufman makes the conversations in a car so goddamned tedious and uninteresting that doesn't go to nowhere? Just because something doesn't make sense doesn't mean it is 'smart' or 'intelligent'. This is exactly the type of writing I despise, long stretches of half baked ideas and empty dialogue full of frivolous 'weirdness' for the sake of it.
Because of this, I couldn’t care less about the characters, maybe there’s a twist or explanation at the end but there's not much enjoyment in between to kept me going, so I stopped watching the movie.
My favorite film of 2020 so far. The best dialogue of the year. The performances are great. You really buy them as a couple and not movie stars acting as a couple. The ending will be divisive. The kind that makes you google explanations.
I'm not surprised it's rated in the 6s. The only Netflix movies most people like are dumb action movies, teen romantic comedies and chick flicks.
this movie is kinda like when you have sex with a film bro and he thinks it’s great and you don’t know what happened and he gaslights you into thinking it was incredible
It's like you're watching the projections of the scribbled ramblings of a lonely disillusioned janitor who watches cheesey TV dramas on his lunch break and fantasizes about a life written in a similar fashion combined with school musicals, but doesn't quite have the abilities. I have no clue what was going on.
ngl, i’m maybe too dumb for this, but this is an beautifully-made film. Kaufman is successful in terms of making it surreal and showing the tensions between the characters - and Jesse Plemons, Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette (yes, her! especially her), and David Thewlis’s brilliant performances really help him achieve that.
Coming home is terrible
whether the dogs lick your face or not;
whether you have a wife
or just a wife-shaped loneliness waiting for you.
Coming home is terribly lonely,
so that you think
of the oppressive barometric pressure
back where you have just come from
with fondness,
because everything’s worse
once you’re home.
You think of the vermin
clinging to the grass stalks,
long hours on the road,
roadside assistance and ice creams,
and the peculiar shapes of
certain clouds and silences
with longing because you did not want to return.
Coming home is
just awful.
And the home-style silences and clouds
contribute to nothing
but the general malaise.
Clouds, such as they are,
are in fact suspect,
and made from a different material
than those you left behind.
You yourself were cut
from a different cloudy cloth,
returned,
remaindered,
ill-met by moonlight,
unhappy to be back,
slack in all the wrong spots,
seamy suit of clothes
dishrag-ratty, worn.
You return home
moon-landed, foreign;
the Earth’s gravitational pull
an effort now redoubled,
dragging your shoelaces loose
and your shoulders
etching deeper the stanza
of worry on your forehead.
You return home deepened,
a parched well linked to tomorrow
by a frail strand of…
Anyway…
You sigh into the onslaught of identical days.
One might as well, at a time…
Well…
Anyway…
You’re back.
The sun goes up and down
like a tired whore,
the weather immobile
like a broken limb
while you just keep getting older.
Nothing moves but
the shifting tides of salt in your body.
Your vision blears.
You carry your weather with you,
the big blue whale,
a skeletal darkness.
You come back
with X-ray vision.
Your eyes have become a hunger.
You come home with your mutant gifts
to a house of bone.
Everything you see now,
all of it:
bone.
The story itself is eerie and has this constant unsettling atmosphere. That said... it drags on. Suspense is alright but this was about an hour too long. The seemingly endless dialogue in the car scenes would be great to fall asleep to. Still, it was a good story. As soon as we saw the photograph on the wall I knew this was all playing out in Jake's head. That the focus should be on him and less on her. From that point on it was waiting for the conclusion for me... which was just... meh. You know. The story told via dance was a creative, beautiful choice but the overall ending felt a bit empty. Maybe that's the point since Jake's life seemed empty too.
I wish I'd read the book first. There where a lot of parts in the movie that I could imagine feel differently through pages instead of on a screen.
I also can't quite take Jesse Plemons seriously anymore ever since I read somewhere that someone called him 'budget Matt Damon' but that's just a me-thing. So to sum it up; good but certainly not the best.
It was a decent art house. For the most part it appears to be setting itself up for becoming a parody of itself later on in the film. I think people who enjoy symbolism and reading into hidden meanings will take some enjoyment from this film.
I love it when I really love a movie and it has a low rating like wow I'm such a contrarian...
Possibly the stupidest movie I've seen in years.
I'm thinking of ending things really is an absolutely amazing movie. It's being kind of in a constant state of fear and hopelessness while you watch it and you're also super confused (and if you're me you're looking for a smarter person who knows what actually happened and then everything falls in its place and you're like wow i love this movie i wanna watch it twice a day but also never again because it's uncomfortable). Definitely recommend. Fantastic actors, truly loved the cast! Just everyting about this movie was so great, it definitely has made me appreciate Charlie Kaufman even more. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to be reading the novel now! ;)
One of the most beautiful films I ever saw
Read the book, skip the movie. It's too strange, even for me. (The book by Iain Reid is also weird, but at least comes together in the end.) Had I not read the novel beforehand, I would have had no clue what was going on.
'I'm Thinking of ending things' (2020)
Vintage Kauffman. Performances are brilliant, especially Jessie Buckley (her impression of a famous movie star at one point is entertaining). Themes of self doubt, regret and family. There are a couple of scenes that jarred a bit, and I had guessed the 'twist' if you want to call it that but overall it's an extremely well made film. I'm satisfied.
7.8/10
A strange and beautiful film at the same time. Highlight: Toni Collete's performance, who is incredible on the scene.
A film that stretches existence, self, identity, memories and delusion into a rabbit hole bizarre proportions. Much like Kaufman's previous works, this movie is a mind bender challenge that takes viewers into very uncomfortable places and questions reality at every turn. Is not exactly a film for everybody, with many changes from the original material (most of the horror elements of the book are absent and replaced with Twilight Zone-sque scenes) and it really requires you to pay attention to details to fully understand it but feel free to navigate the premise and the hidden visuals that can be interpreted in many ways. At the end, you can take your own conclusions about everything that the movie shows, but only one thing is for sure: nothing is what it seems.
Although it somehow follows the novel faithfully, it is a very personal interpretation. The praise for the imagination that characterizes Kaufman is absolute here (those final sequences between the musical and the animation). The characters do not move through time, rather it is time that moves through them. Kaufman turns a psychological horror story into a reflection on "cinematic reality." The cinema feeds us with lies. It is the most cinephile film that has been seen in a long time.
Visually, the film is beautiful. The performances are fantastic, and the plot is very clever.
But I have to subtract 3 points from my score:
-1 because the length is unnecessarily long. There are many cut-out scenes.
-1 because there are some scenes that border on ridiculous, just to keep the film interesting.
-1 because until the end, I don't feel attached to the characters, and I usually don't like a film that doesn't make me feel anything for them.
It’s basically TENET, but cheaper and better, and you definitely don’t see anything coming.
This film is so weird and so beautiful, felt kinda slow but great acting and cinematography and a strange and interesting story. Probably one of my favourite films of 2020 so far, behind Palm Springs. No one plays an awkward person quite like Jessie Plemons (Todd from breaking bad)
It's a Charlie Kaufman film so don't expect something simple and easy to explain to your friends. This is a mind-altering, existentialist nightmare of a film, and that isn't a criticism. The fractured narrative equates to fractured memories, and as bizarre as the film is, it can resonate with any one of us.
One of the biggest things I’ve noticed while reading people’s observations on the film as a whole is that it’s going over everybody’s head. I can’t even tell you how many comments I’ve read that didn’t understand the film at all. To them, it’s just this massive self-indulgent mess of incoherent dialogue, all of which amounts to nothing. Far too many people think they wasted their time watching the movie. So, my goal during this review is to maybe get you in a different mindset before you watch it. That way, you’ll have the best possible chance to enjoy it, but I fear that this is one of those instances where you’ll either understand it…or you won’t. I’m not going to hand you the meaning of the film on a silver platter. If I did that, that would be stealing the experience from somebody else.
Here’s my first suggestion: Keep an open mind and pay attention to everything. I’m not kidding when I say the entirety of this movie, whether you believe it or not, is important. The film, and Charlie Kaufman in general, is incredibly high-brow, so there’s a lot of scholarly references made in the film that won’t mean that much to you. However, if you sat and researched those references, you would be able to appreciate the whole movie a little more. You don’t NEED to understand absolutely everything, though. Just pay attention to the little things, like the main girl’s name. Every time they call her something, pay attention because her name keeps changing. That’s not much of a spoiler because its nothing they even focus on that much. If you miss it, you miss it, Kaufman doesn’t care if you catch these little things or not. But it is important, so keep an eye on that. Also keep an eye on the color changes, primarily in what the girl is wearing. As she discovers more about her world and her environment, her physical appearance keeps transforming. When you first see her, she’s very, very red. Red hair, red hat, red coat, red shirt. When she gets to the parents, there’s a lot of blue and yellow hues to what she’s wearing, which matches the odd nature of the house. In the third act, she apparently has a wardrobe change and has a blue hat, blue coat, blue shirt, and her once bright red hair is now very, very dark. This is also symbolizing the changes her character is going through.
Here’s my second suggestion: Watch this movie like it’s either an episode of The Twilight Zone or is all a dream. Charlie Kaufman often focuses on how the mind works. Most prominently seen in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, that film does a great job at showing you the weird fragments of how a mind pieces together a puzzle. I’m Thinking of Ending Things sometimes follows the same procedure, just in a much more contained and less-explosive manner. Don’t watch this as a normal linear story. Those that do will undoubtedly be lost. Instead, I implore you to watch it like it’s a puzzle that needs to be solved. Be your own Sherlock Holmes and try to solve the puzzle. If you don’t get it on the first go, watch it all over again and try again. It might take a few viewings before it clicks, but that’s okay. Don’t despair or give up, because it’s a very smart movie. Once you figure it out, your mind will be blown.
If I had anything negative to say about it at all is that I didn’t figure all the little things out. Why are there scratches at the door? Why is everyone apologizing for the smell? What’s up with the Oklahoma musical? What’s up with the dancers? There’s all these little things that happen in the movie that definitely mean something, even if metaphorically, that I couldn’t quite figure out on the first viewing, and because it’s so utterly high-brow, there’s all these references to people, books, and things that a normal audience member will never be able to understand without hours of research at minimum. So, a part of me wants to say that the film is unnecessarily self-indulgent at times, but it’s not an incoherent mess. I understand the overall point, and if you can do that, the rest won’t matter as much.
Let’s take a look at my final score. From an unbiased, technical level, I think this is a very smart movie that does a very good job at keeping things original and unpredictable. It’s slightly self-indulgent at times, but to be fair, what isn’t? My unbiased score is 90%. My personal, biased score is slightly lower at 86%, which is still pretty good, but my experience as a whole went from bored, to confused, to uncomfortable before it got interested in the film. I much prefer the last two acts over the first. Averaging out the two scores together, we come to the final rating of 88%. 88 out of 100 possible stars, granting the movie with a letter grade of B+. Not too shabby at all.
I was super excited for this. Eternal Sunshine is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I love, love, love Being John Malkovich. But this fell pretty short for me. I loved quite a bit about this film: The acting, the cast, the cinematography, the idea -- I haven't read the book, but I did do some research on what this film (potentially) means, and I had a much better appreciation for it afterwards. But jeez, this was a slog. I felt every minute of the 2 hour 15 minute runtime, especially after the first act.
Definitely my favorite movie of the year. Acting and the overall look of the film were fantastic. I loved everything about the first three quarters of this film, even though I didn't always fully understand what was going on. The dialogue was really great (especially in the car scenes), and the mysterious overtone throughout left us wondering where this was headed. That said, the ending disappointed me, and even though I understand the message, I was not a fan as to how it was revealed.
Welp, that was disappointing.
First 2 hours: 7/10
Last 15 minutes: 2/10
I miss this kind of films.Mindblowing with great atmosphere deep dialogues and interesting till the end.Kaufman is a genius no doubt and one of the best writers of all time.His movies are so unique i wish he will make more projects in the future.8.2/10 not his best but still a great-great movie to watch.
I just don't get it, exactly like Mulholland Drive.
I didn’t think I was going to write a review for this one, but the more I read other reviews, the more I thought, what the hell heck. Because I found myself agreeing with both those who hated the movie and those who loved it. I really didn’t like it but I wouldn’t feel right only shitting on it.
If I were to try and sum up what I did like most about this movie, as far as relatability goes anyway, it would be the existential crisis. Bits and pieces of the dialogue were compelling, mostly because of this, but buried in too much of it entirely. It became tedious work to pay attention and not just zone out. This is why I could never put myself through it again, no matter how much more sense it’d make upon a second viewing or how many new and interesting details I could catch. This is true of most any movie, especially when being told how to view it and what to look for. It’s what most of us would call a combination of hindsight and Google search.
It’s what I think is the most frustrating thing about this film, is that for those of us who haven’t read the book, we would have been better off to either read the explanations beforehand or not to have watched at all. That’s a pretty large issue for a large amount of people.
Originally, I said to my boyfriend that Toni Collette’s performance was at least one of my 2 stars, but I don’t know if that’s entirely accurate after gaining an overall better understanding through a few articles and many other viewers. I still don’t think I’ll be raising my rating, although maybe the 2nd star can be both for the thrill of watching Toni do something new and unexpected (to me) and the appreciation I have for what the story is meant to be.
I don’t appreciate it as it is. As much as I don’t want to call it so, it does come off as pretentious and it is unfortunate that it wasn’t made for more of us, because I firmly feel like it could have been tweaked to work for both those who already love it and those who can’t stand it. And if one can do so, why wouldn’t they? Nobody is elite here, we’re just different. Why ostracize part of your audience?
“It's good to remind yourself the world's larger than the inside of your own head.”
The Brrrs that nobody even bothered to eat in this made me really crave a Blizzard or an Oreo McFlurry, which was really rude since I really shouldn’t be having the sugar. I had a McDonald’s vanilla cone. Shhh, please don’t tell.
I very much liked the performance of the song “Lonely Room” towards the end, but because it felt so random and out of place in relation to the rest of the film by that point, with us anxious for the movie to conclude already, I don’t think I fully enjoyed it in the moment.
In the trivia, IMDb says there is a post credits scene. That is not what was after the credits by any stretch of the definition, I assure you.
Actually really great, made me go kind of insane in a good way which movies barely manage.
I'll just pretend that I liked this one because it's very poetic.
I have to write this, i have to i have to warn the world and people from making the mistake of their live. 2 hourd and 15 minutes of pure artistic pretentious and totally outrageus crap. I mean i have seen some really bad movies but maybe this this the first time i say this was the worst movie i have ever seen in my life
Why ? Don't give me "you didn't understand it, go watch the avengers", noone understood it, not even Kaufman who he was clearly on some very hard mushrooms while writing it.
There is nothing to undestand, no clear ending, no meaning, only long very very long dialogues with unforeseen meanings.
I have to rate but it is a zero not 1
A philosophical car journey through the awkward and poetic moments of life.
This film made me want to end things. Mostly, my own life!
Such a weird and confusing movie. I had to make myself sit and finish or I would've turned it off a long time ago.
I don’t know what I just watched. I feel like I’m not real anymore
The whole movie is like a strange nightmare, where everything seems reasonable but illogical; you want to wake up, but can't escape. Of course, like all nightmares, this film is crap.
I know that this is gonna sound weird, but musicals are a big no no for me. I hate musicals. I find them to be the most unrealistic and boring way of presenting a story, character and themes, so concluding the movie with a dance and musical performance completely alienated me. It almost made me want to turn off the movie and leave it as it is. And it's just not the ending sequence. The whole 3rd act felt like a big load of "meh". It's a shame though, because I actually liked the first 2/3 of this movie. The mystery elements were pretty good.
Also, this movie has the worst pacing of any piece of media I've ever experienced. Absolutely abysmal slow pacing. It felt like a 5 hours movie for no reason at all.
Read the book instead.
Some intriguing moments and a brooding, surreal atmosphere, but ultimately disappointing. Since watching the film I've read a plot summary of the book as I didn't manage to understand what was going on, despite picking up on some aspects of the nature of the experience the film adeptly provides. The book sounds great, and, unlike the film, has an impactful ending.
Don't try to understand, try to feel
Exaggerated fake smiles, deliberate pandering
Humans create hope, chatting for solace.
I've heard this was a weird, underrated film, and know about nothing else going into it, but that's exactly what I was feeling for, so here I am.
The cinematography and poetic aspects, both in image and words are already quite stunning in themselves. I'm loving the art.
Also loving how it's starting to foreshadow things right from the beginning and keeps going at it, until it gets creepier and creepier, but only ever so subliminally. Like her, we know that something is just horribly wrong, but we can't quite make out what.
"Coming home is terrible... whether you have a wife, or just a wife-shaped loneliness waiting for you"
"There's no colour in the universe, only in the brain."
It really starts taking off toward the middle of it.
Something is indeed horribly wrong, and we're left to guess what exactly it is.
Do not expect resolve with this one.
Loved it to bits.
This film was easily an hour longer than it should have been. There's a very clear "plot" that it follows and it's actually really straightforward what happens honestly. It's just mired in so much pretension and wasted time. We didn't need 3 long conversations in the car that all say very little. I'm sure on a repeat watch I'll see more callbacks to future events or allusions to the real plot earlier on but I really don't care enough. It was much more intriguing at the beginning but felt like it lost confidence in its narrative halfway through and just petered out
If you really want to know what's happening, it was all a delusion. A delusion built by a sad, pathetic man, a janitor in a school who imagines himself younger and fetches himself a girl; a girl he might have briefly scene at a pub a long time ago. But even this delusion is marred by his own insecurities caused partly by his parents (whoop-dee-doo). The girl doesn't like him and is "thinking of ending things" but doesn't and can't bring herself to actually do it because that's not what he wants in this delusion. He's ashamed of his parents and imagines numerous scenarios of bringing this girl to meet his parents at various stages in their life but he can't even fix what the girl does or what her name is. That's really all that the movie is about. It takes 2 hours to tell this to you and literally sings and dances this whole thing to you at the end to completely drill it into your head which was supremely unnecessary.
I'm not particularly impressed. Probably one of Kaufman's weaker works
I'll be honest, I didn't fully have a clue what was happening for large portions. Yet, I still weirdly enjoyed watching 'I’m Thinking of Ending Things'.
I think the main reasons for that are the two leads: Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons. They kept everything feeling fresh and intriguing to me, both have their moments in this. Toni Collette and David Thewlis also do very well. I like the cast, for sure.
As for the plot, it didn't do anything for me but it did keep me thinking which I appreciated. I, personally, would've preferred a shorter run time and clearer meaning - the latter is just me though, I'm sure others will adore the way the film is portrayed.
Some other reviewers have put it perfectly in terms of matching me: not nous enough to 'get it', but it still comes across as a good film. I'm fine with that, each to their own as always.
From what was an interesting, but slow moving starting premise, it ended in something truly rubbish. "Nothing is as it seems" is very apt.
If only I had a time machine to relive those 135 minutes
P.S. It was way to pretentious for me, and I definitely didn't enjoy it. In case that isn't obvious.
I was looking forward to seeing this film since the day it was released, but I think I'm going to stop at the 35-minute mark for now. The first sequence got me intrigued, but I couldn't bear the "pop art" feel that emerges when the parents come into play. It felt incredibly out of place when the moods leading up to it had been on the heavier side. I don't think I'm finishing it anytime soon. If anyone wants to convince me to give it another chance, feel free in the replies. :upside_down:
A strange and beautiful trip through a mind unhinged, yet I had absolutely no care for any of the characters or their outcome, which is where I felt was only the start of me disliking this. I have not read the novel so I cant speak for the comparisons, but after seeing this I font know that I'll have any intention of seeking it out either. So much of the dialogue just felt unnecessary.
I wish she had ended things much sooner. Like at least 45mins sooner
I'm convinced Kaufman should go back to being solely a screenwriter. He does not know how to keep his machinations in check. Spike Jonze's razor sharp edge cut to the core of his pretentiousness without losing the deeper meaning.
The cinematography is gorgeous and the performances are extremely good, but the film runs a half hour too long. It's mother! + Synecdoche, New York + incel fantasy.
So it's true. Charlie Kaufman has finally gotten as good at directing films as he is at writing them.
A film that begs a re-watch. Unfortunately, I don't like beggars.
It’s quite a ride, in the end it all makes sense. The pacing was too slow for me to enjoy this movie ever again, but its quite apropro when the adventure takes place in someone’s melancholic mind.
Enjoyed this immensely. Sometimes an unexpected laugh emerged from my gullet like ejecting vomit, but the sense of impending doom kept my attention, especially when the strange depictions of time flow began to open my eyes to the realisation this was happening in someone's head. A cursory look at the plot of the book on which it is based confirmed this, and although this has been critiqued as to its value, and even as I have not read it, the dialogue of the film reminded me of 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', which I read in the early 80s. This dialogue once you realise what is going on, takes on a a new power. it was also filmed well, and the acting was great. Although I write this, it is not a film I would add to any collection of my own, nor would I likely watch it again, so I give it a strong 7/10.
A story of lost opportunities, regret, fantasy, and finally extinction.
If I was to express one criticism of the film, it was too linear in its construction, even with the scenes of The Janitor breaking the flow, which in reality it wasn't, if you see what I mean.
This is one of those movies that people are going to love or hate. I am one of the latter. The performances were good. The story was incoherent. there were simply too many layers that made it way too confusing and thus un-enjoyable for me.
«Maybe it’s human nature to keep going in the face of this knowledge. The alternative requires too much energy. Decisiveness. People stay in unhealthy relationships because it’s easier. Basic physics. An object in motion tends to stay in motion. People tend to stay in relationships past their expiration date. It’s Newton’s first law of emotion».
—
«Forse è la natura umana andare avanti senza essere consapevoli. L’alternativa richiede troppa energia. Troppa risolutezza. Le persone continuano relazioni malsane perché è più facile. È fisica elementare. Un oggetto in movimento tende a restare in movimento. La gente tende a continuare una relazione oltre la data di scadenza. È la prima legge di Newton sulle emozioni».
«People like to think of themselves as points moving through time. But I think it’s probably the opposite. We are stationary and time passes through us, blowing like cold wind, stealing our heat, leaving us chapped and frozen. [...] I feel like I was that wind tonight. Blowing through Jake’s parents. Seeing them as they were, seeing them as they will be. Seeing them after they’re gone. When only I’m left. Only the wind.
—
«Alle persone piace pensare di essere come punti che si muovono attraverso il tempo. Ma io credo che probabilmente sia il contrario. Noi siamo fermi e il tempo passa attraverso di noi soffiando come il vento freddo, rubandoci il nostro calore, lasciandoci screpolati e congelati. [...] Mi sento come se stanotte fossi stato quel vento, che soffiava attraverso i genitori di Jake. Vedendoli come erano, vedendoli come saranno, vedendoli dopo che saranno morti. Quando resto solo io. Solo il vento».
Wow, where to start. I love Charlie Kaufman and everything he is about. I love that he can take chances in movies that nobody else will take. In that spirit this movie reminds me a lot of Anomalisa and Synedoche, New York. Both of those films went to uncharted areas to tell a story about the human condition. Ironically the most difficult part of watching this movie was figuring out how to watch it. At different times I was tempted to think that it would blend into the horror genre but then I remembered who the director was and I was able to relax and trust him. The movie may have been ten or fifteen minutes too long as it drifted a bit towards the end but it did snap together in the last few scenes. Kaufman did an amazing job of giving us clues along the way as to what was going on and then bringing the movie together at the end in such a way that causes us to reconsider the entire movie with new eyes. From what I've read he did this in order to reward repeat viewings.
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Even struggling with the notion as I am right now, I would put this on the same shelf as Mother! and Black Swan. This is by far the most ambitious piece of work of Charlie Kaufman. Sometimes, there are so many things happening on the screen, and they are all so subtle and transmit so many different messages, the spectator may get lost. The movie reminds you on key moments that this is a movie you are seeing, not real memories or happenings. It takes some time to criticise itself on screen during the play, acknowledging it's own limitations as media while, at the same time, building up characters and the story. Whoever is unfamiliar with most of the film criticism language may not realise that and this part gets lost. However, this won't stop the spectator from creating theories as to what the fudge is going on, which is so by design.
The plot is so simple and the key to its full comprehension is at the title, bear that in mind. However, we as creatures are not simple. Our minds are complex palaces of memories, feelings, imagination and dreams. The movie depicts this Mind Palace perfectly, going back and forth in time and space, through reality and dream, feelings and reason, on the most perfect pace I've seen so far on screen (let alone David Lynch's Mulholland Drive). What is memory and what is imagination is a question that will stick with you until the end, and the answer is not pleasing to understand, although simple.
So, to sum it up, this is certainly not the average Joe's cup of tea. If you don't want to dive into the abyss of mind, get away from this. But if you decide to take a leap into this void, relax and stop struggling is the movie's main message, which, by itself, may be the hardest thing to do in this life...
Charlie Kaufman seemingly without any reigns, I am both extremely grateful for this while simultaneously rolling my eyes out of my head
I thought the mother was a fantastic performance, but boy this was not my cup of tea.
Shout by DeletedBlockedParent2020-09-05T17:42:37Z
I understood absolutely nothing. I loved it.