I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Charlie Kaufman (15, 134 mins)
The brain behind the off-kilter eccentricities of Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Adaptation and, most recently, Anomalisa returns with another head-scratcher that threatens, infuriates and moves with skill, offering multitudes of readings; just don’t expect a straight forward narrative. Adapted from Iain Reid’s novel, I’m Thinking Of Ending Things deals with a breakup in ways unimaginable. Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons are on their way to his parents’ house; their relationship, though only six weeks old, appears to be flagging. Plemons’ Jake seems quiet and dull, Buckley wants something more.
Writer/director Kaufman already adds some dreamlike qualities in this wordy exchange – clothes and hairstyles change subtly, something that accelerates when they reach the parents’ farmhouse. Matters get catastrophic and creepy as Toni Colette and David Thewlis eccentrically interrogate Buckley, Thewlis with roaming hair and forehead plasters. Not just their clothes but their ages change, as the opportunities and roads that could be travelled in life jumble together. All this is interspersed with a janitor in a high school, which the pair will end up visiting in a snowstorm.
Unexpectedly tense and often deeply moving, Kaufman’s film defies description, instead creating a hazy, nightmarish, uplifting and equally melancholic experience that resonates. It won’t be for everyone, like Kaufman’s debut directorial opus Synedoche, New York, but is full of unsettling cinematic invention. The small cast are superb: Buckley adrift, emotional and often unreadable, Plemons solid and stoic but with a gargantuan amount of repressed feelings. The film has a moving dance sequence that may or may not be giving backstory, a deep philosophical talk about a John Cassavettes film, songs from Oklahoma! and a creepy basement… and makes you feel like life has to be lived, lest regret follow.
I’m Thinking Of Ending Things may often appear to ramble and frustrate, but this has a Lynchian dream logic that grips if you allow. Another unique cinematic journey with Charlie Kaufman.
words KEIRON SELF
Streaming on Netflix now