While it’s a brow-furrowing first hour or so, the payoff is pretty strong, and passing the “Aha!” finish line is so rewarding. For this reason, they could’ve tightened it a bit.Īdditionally, calling it a “thriller” implies there’s some sort of edge-of-your-seat action, but this is a pretty tame and understated film.
It makes it hard to tell what’s really meaningful and what isn’t, so you’re just sort of left to think, “What on earth is going on?” for a little too long. Because of this, you’re not really sure what you’re supposed to be watching for. The film also doesn’t have one particular ubiquitous “Aha!” moment, so when exactly you start to catch on depends. I had an inkling early on as to who Young Woman really was, and I turned out to be right in the end, but other than that there weren’t a ton of potential leads in the first act that would queue you in to the plot. What I mean is that it takes just so long to truly start to string things together. I want to be clear on what I mean by “slow” here - once you’ve finished the film, you realize there aren’t really any useless scenes, as it’s all quite pivotal to understanding the story and therefore is well-paced.
It offers the fun of solving a mental puzzle while delivering solid performances and a compelling storyline. So, where does Kaufman’s new film fall? My verdict: While it’s slow in parts and therefore a bit frustrating to watch, it’s ultimately an incredibly unique look at how loneliness manifests. For me, the litmus test for mind benders like this is, “Does the plot wrap up in an understandingly meaningful way, or is it just plain convoluted?” It makes you repeatedly question the nature of Jake and Young Woman’s reality across its 134-minute runtime. “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is a cerebral thriller that often makes you go, “Huh?” throughout the film, and even a little bit after the credits roll. As time goes on, though, the viewer realizes, as the film’s Netflix bio aptly puts it, “nothing is as it seems.” Young Woman is on the verge of ending her brief and aimless relationship with Jake, but before that, she embarks on a road trip to meet his parents.
REVIEW IM THINKING OF ENDING THINGS MOVIE
To keep it brief, the movie stars Jessie Buckley as the unnamed girlfriend (she’s referred to in subtitles as Young Woman) of Jake ( Jesse Plemons). There’s not much I can say about the story that wouldn’t cross the spoiler line and I believe going into the film blind is the best way to watch it. So, to some extent, the timing of Charlie Kaufman‘s “ I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is, well, timely. Over the last six months, we’ve each had to grapple some way or another with the physical distance caused by coronavirus as it’s inevitably chipped away at our emotional health. I think the idea of loneliness is inherently more applicable today than it is, say, in non-pandemic circumstances where you can actually be around living, breathing human beings.
0 kommentar(er)
