Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 134 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: Jesse Plemons, Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette, David Thewlis, Guy Boyd, Oliver Platt
Description: Full of misgivings, a young woman (Jessie Buckley) travels with her new boyfriend (Jesse Plemons) to his parents’ (Toni Collette, David Thewlis) secluded farm. Upon arriving, she comes question everything she thought she knew about him, and herself.
Review: It is a pity that “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” will not be shown in theaters. Without distraction from your phone or other domestic circumstances you can totally immerse yourself in this movie. Because of the surreal story, the beautiful images and the enormous amount of details, which you would more easily miss when you’re watching it on your TV. On the other hand, the release on Netflix means easy access and being able to watch a new movie in the comforts of your own home. Charlie Kaufman’s detailed look and worries about aging, mortality, love and connections between people (or the lack thereof) is not an easy watch and surely not for the mainstream audience.
Charlie Kaufman is known for his creative and more surreal movies. Jut look at “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, “Being John Malkovich” and “Adaptation”. So, if you know and like these films, you are used to his style. But that doesn’t necessary mean you will love this film as well. I think this movie will get a lot of mixed reviews.
“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” seems to have a very simple story. A young woman is going to meet the parents of her new boyfriend Jake, who live on a remote farm. Late at night they go back home by car. But from the beginning something strange is going on. She things about ending it, and sometimes Jake reacts as if he could hear that thought.
Reality is increasingly being challenged here. The conversations they do have out loud vary from profound to extremely pretentious, from poetic to uncomfortable. Both the uncomfortable and the beautiful moments are enhanced by the colorful, claustrophobic cinematography.
It is thanks to Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons as the young couple, who are able to convey the existential fear that underlies Kaufman’s work. Toni Collette and David Thewlis are very strong as Jake’s parents, in whose house the film becomes totally surreal. During dinner, what’s on the table changes several times, just like the haircut, ages and the name of the young woman. Is her name Lucy, Louisa, Amy?
She also starts to doubt it. And then suddenly Jake’s father is very old and demented, after which the young woman meets an equally young mother, who is cleaning up Jake’s toys. In Jake’s old room there is an urn with the ashes of his dog, while the young woman has just stroked it. Is she losing grip on reality?
“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is like a labyrinth, in which everything is interwove, but at the same time collapse like a house of cards. The existential uncertainty of existence is carried through such an extent that we can go no longer be sure whether we are absorbed in the young woman’s confusion, or whether she doesn’t exist at all and is a projection of Jake’s failed attempts to make a real connection with a woman. “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” invites to be watch several times, although that will not be easy (since it’s a slow burn) and I doubt it will lead to complete certainty and understanding. The only thing we can be sure of is that Charlie Kaufman has again made a beautiful, melancholic film, even if we don’t fully understand it or can really explain what we just witnessed. The average viewer will probably hate this film. If you can open yourself up to this surreal story, you will appreciate it and see the beauty of it.
Rating: 4 / 5
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