I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Directed by Charlie Kaufman

Review written by Imogen Larcombe

This film was incomprehensible. I’m Thinking of Ending Things is Charlie Kaufman’s third endeavour as both writer and director and boy oh boy he
should not be allowed to have this much responsibility. Based on Ian
Reid’s book of the same name, the film follows a young couple, Lucy (Jessie Buckley) and Jake (Jesse Plemons) as they travel to visit Jake’s parents during a snow blizzard. The film is in three parts; the car ride to the house, visiting the parents, and the weird ending. Kaufman also goes next level with his multiple perspectives and timelines within the film which I am sure will make his fans happy, but it was simply overwhelming for me.

Although it was clear that the film was trying to tackle themes of ageing,
loneliness, and regret, I spent most of the time grappling with the plot
and found it hard to reflect on these themes at all. Kaufman, in his
pretentious way, also used lots and lots of intertextuality in an attempt to
enhance the story. The problem with this is that his intertextual
references are too obscure for a general audience because we are not
all ‘intellectuals’ like Kaufman.

Along with the excessive literary references, the dialogue was painful to
listen to, with conversations ranging from boring to completely absurd. Kaufman was successful in making me feel extremely uncomfortable
with his writing, but this was exhausting, especially throughout the
drawn-out car scenes as the two main characters anxiously talk to each
other. It also felt like Kaufman was being a bit of a show-off with his
excessive dialogue. There was one part where I felt like it was just
Kaufman talking to himself when the main character is asked “You’re
certainly an expert on all things cinematic” and they reply with “Yeah. I
am.” However, the film was made somewhat bearable with Jessie
Buckley’s performance as her character brings some sanity to the movie.

Overall, this movie was a nonsensical stream of scenes. It was not
entertaining and to me, films should be entertaining even if they are not
grand masterpieces. Nonetheless, Kaufman has created something new
and original with this film, but he fails to make this film accessible and
entertaining to a wide audience though I’m sure some people will enjoy
and maybe even understand this film. I highly recommend reading one
of those articles that explain confusing plots after watching this and upon
reflection, you would become less angry about wasting two and a half
hours of your life watching this excruciating movie.

Verdict: 2/5

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is available to stream on Netflix.