I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Until the arrival at the high school, this was the movie of the year with one of the scariest horror scenes I've seen in a long time, by which I mean the entire visit to the parents' farmhouse. This sequence feels like a specific scene from Mulholland Drive played in a loop, where the protagonists return home from the theater with a found key to a blue box, and it's really very uncomfortably shot (was it me, or were some of the characters' movements intentionally sped up?). Unfortunately, once they enter the empty corridors of the school, the film then turns into a pure allegory about dancing and singing, thus turning from the hitherto Americana nightmare somewhere into the world of obligatory irony (which, at least according to the Wikipedia synopsis, the book avoids and in that case I want it now), which is a shame, but in the context of Netflix, it is a really wild departure to be appreciated. Plus, like almost all of Kaufman's films to date, this one takes place in a cyclical surreal world made up of neuroses, phobias, masks, frustrations, and exhaustion, and we speak a pretty similar language. (15.09.2020)

Kaufman entertained me with I’m Thinking of Ending Things, not only with the dialogue and emotions, but also with the bold minimalist concept of the 130-minute narrative in three scenes and an epilogue. Both actors are fine, particularly Jessie Buckley, who was born for such dreamy, intellectual conversational flicks. But what about the epilogue as the culmination of all of the preceding ideas? That’s where Kaufman runs away from viewers, leaving them feeling dissatisfied. (16.10.2020)

It’s been long since a Hollywood project captured the meaning of “love it or hate it”. Kaufman rejects the typical linear narrative, focusing instead on characters having an intellectual debate in a car, while holding the attention through the dream-like association of various images, and, in its own weird way, he manages to stimulate curiosity about how things will turn out. At the same time, he makes increasingly clear that this won’t be primarily a complex romance and embarks into an impressive spatio-temporal delusion that poses strong interpretive questions, the answers to which are postponed and will actually never satisfy the viewers longing for an explanation. In addition to the philosophical or self-aware debates of the loving couple, what comes to the fore is a play with film genres that help clarify and define each of the story blocks – the visit to the parents is basically an attempt at Forman-like discomposure and horror paranoia, the conversations in the car lean more towards short-story parable, and by the end it even uses musical as a form of pure cinematic expression where the realistic perspective fully falls apart. The ending, meanwhile, offers an almost surrealistic grasp on the ideas and openly tells the viewer that it is up to them to get their head in order and decipher the previous events. In view that a simple interpretation is out of the question and that this emotional rather than narrative movie will anger many viewers, I have to tip my hat in respect to Kaufman. I’m not among the enthusiastic crowd, I didn’t always feel interest in what the characters were saying and I didn’t grasp the formal concept of the final key minutes, but overall, I felt great and sincere respect for filmmakers unafraid of going against the flow and make movies with a confusing and intentionally viewer-unfriendly arrangement, like those created during the era of artistic auteurs. I think the ending appeals to your innermost cinephilic and sensual cells and, even though it’s not always easy to watch and it laughs rather derisively at the viewer, the keys to understanding it are pretty much everywhere and it certainly can not be excluded that the average viewer won’t able to fully get into this intimate experience of identity, ageing and inner psychical conflict. I quite managed it and I won’t mind another meeting, which could be a completely different film. 75% (19.09.2020)

I'm Thinking of Ending Things. You'll be pondering this throughout the film, but you will keep watching in hope, waiting to see what happens in the end, but unfortunately, absolutely nothing does. This is one of the most annoying, boring and obnoxious films I've ever seen in my life. Not only did I absolutely not enjoy this film, but I already hate, loathe and despise it. The movie pretends to be artsy, unfortunately it's more like a famous painter slapping two colors on a white canvas and calling it art and everyone is absolutely sick of it. The trailer lured us to a creepy psychological story, but unfortunately the film is just a drama and doesn't even lean on thriller or horror. Literally for an hour the film takes place in a car where two unlikeable characters wax poetic and philosophize about uninteresting matters – if you are into poetry you might find it interesting, but I didn't enjoy reading let alone listening to these poetic dialogues. Things improve a little with the arrival of Toni Collette, who is also the only good thing in the whole film. She gives another crazy performance and the atmosphere at the dinner table is quite chilling, but it only works if you expect it to escalate into intense and unpleasant waters at the end. But Charlie Kaufman didn't have the balls for that and preferred to send the protagonists back to the car, at which point I thought I was going to smash the TV. The film has no twist, no point, no explanation, absolutely nothing happens, it's not thrilling or entertaining. Two and a half hours of poetry and metaphorical lines that I absolutely do not look for in a film. This one went absolutely beyond me. Apart from the acting I can't praise anything here. I'd rather take a bullet to the head than go through this film again, it was torture. Story***, Action>No, Humor>No, Violence>No, Entertainment*, Music***, Visuals**, Atmosphere**, Suspense>No. 3/10. (05.09.2020)