I'm Thinking of Ending Things
NETFLIXAdapted from a novel by Iain Reid, I’m Thinking of Ending Things is the latest directorial effort from Charlie Kaufman, indie cinema’s resident weirdo. His previous works, both as a screenwriter and director (e.g. Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, or Anomalisa), have trained the audiences to expect a highly specific type of filmmaking and this film is no exception.
In the most general terms, I’m Thinking of Ending Things is an absurdist odyssey which begins with a road trip through snow-covered expanses of middle-of-nowhere America and slowly devolves into a delirious collage of suggestive symbolism, pop-cultural references, winks at the audience and lush imagery seemingly adding up to a surrealist phantasmagoria. However, a keen observer will quickly determine that these visual cues and tableaus are meant to form a trail of breadcrumbs left by Kaufman and, by extension, the author of the novel for the viewer to use as a cipher to transpose this seemingly chaotic audio-visual onslaught into a commentary on the subject matter the filmmaker feels most at home with: the mechanics of highly specific and immensely complex emotional states.
This is by far the most one can say about the contents of this film without inadvertently informing the viewer about the structure and purpose of the narrative, which is best discovered organically. This is especially because, in contrast to his previous works, this time round Kaufman wasn’t exactly keen on keeping his intentions secret either. In fact, he hoped the audience would quickly figure out what he was doing and decode the language of the narrative on the go. This striking departure from Kaufman’s expected modus operandi is likely a result of the fact I’m Thinking of Ending Things re-treads a lot of the thematic topography he had covered more extensively and audaciously in his other stories. Disappointingly, this film isn’t original enough to compensate the audience for the structural laxity of its central conceit and nor is it visually distinctive to stand on artistic merit alone. To be completely honest, it is quite a boring affair, which is a stark accusation to make towards a film that spends inordinate amounts of time trying to dazzle with its oddity and discombobulate with its perceived cerebral impenetrability.
It turns out that it simply isn’t enough to borrow extensively from the visual toolbox of his own early collaborators, Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry, and employ these techniques to adapt a story which also happens to be clearly inspired by Kaufman’s own screenwriting efforts. The result is quite predictable. I’m Thinking of Ending Things plays like a compilation of Charlie Kaufman’s greatest hits which either points to monumental self-importance of the filmmaker or a frightening possibility the ladle has scraped the bottom of his pot of ideas; it was previously considered bottomless by many. Therefore, because the narrative sphere of the film leaves much to be desired, the burden of responsibility for ensuring its success was left in the hands of its performers.
Fortunately, Kaufman’s quirky clout is more than enough to attract great acting talent to star in his movies. Thus, I’m Thinking of Ending Things is carried by the combined potency of its leads: Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, Toni Collette and David Thewlis. All of whom do their absolute best to relay the bonkers mad tone of the narrative which freely traverses between anguish-filled car conversations, outlandish dinner experiences, impersonating Pauline Kael, lifting lines from Oscar-winning movies and breaking into choreographed dance sequences. Although their acting work is commendable, accomplished and inspired when examined in isolation, it doesn’t work in service of the story or bolster its mission. The film fails in its fundamental aim to homogenise its constituent components to deliver a cohesive cinematic experience.
In a way, Charlie Kaufman’s newest creation fits as an accidental companion piece to Christopher Nolan’s Tenet in that it might indicate its creator has lost the ability to determine what makes his movies great. All of Charlie Kaufman’s previous works thrived on striking the balance between the two fundamental aspects of storytelling: journey and destination. He would ensure the experience of following his stories – convoluted, outlandish and bizarre as they were – was enriching in its own right. It would also bring the audience to a satisfying conclusion that not only re-contextualised the journey but, crucially, would re-contextualise the viewer’s own worldview. I’m Thinking of Ending Things loses this fine balance completely and delivers a tedious journey to a destination that is both uncharacteristically obscure in the way it is treated visually and completely disappointing intellectually. All it can reward the viewer with is a bouquet of cynical banalities, the nature of which cannot be divulged in this text, as it would ruin this daunting experience even more.
