Certificate: 15
Running time: 133 minutes
Starring: Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, Toni Collette, David Thewlis
Directed by: Charlie Kaufman.
The story: A young woman, contemplating ending her six week relationship with her boyfriend, travels to a remote farm house in the countryside to meet his parents.
The verdict: If you are familiar with Charlie Kaufman then you know to expect nothing less from him than labyrinthine plots, philosophical musings and a general leaning towards the weird and the wonderful. And for those not familiar with Kaufman - come in and welcome to the craziness.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things certainly falls into the above sphere. I have pondered over this review for slightly longer than normal and if I'm honest, I'm still not entirely sure of what I think of this film. This is very unusual for me as I nearly always have definitive feelings on the films I have watched, and especially how I have felt whilst watching them and what feelings they have evoked.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things left me feeling quite detached and uninvolved. I am a big fan of existentialism in film and of films that challenge the audience and make you think. But I'm Thinking of Ending Things was so cold towards the audience, so closed off and thus so inaccessible that rather than it feeling challenging and testing in a positive way, it felt arduous and gruelling. Kaufman has always made the films that he wants to make and he doesn't pander to the audience. This is usually a great thing but in the case of I'm Thinking of Ending Things, it felt ignorant. It is almost as if Kaufman made this film for his own enjoyment rather than to appeal to an audience.
Visually, I thought that I'm Thinking of Ending Things was really strong. The colour palette and tones are consistent throughout and I loved the set and production design of the farmhouse. I also thought that the performances were excellent. Jessie Buckley in particular really stood out to me and I am thoroughly looking forward to her next project.
However, the film is far too long and has several prolonged scenes of dialogue which are incredibly laborious. I normally really enjoy lengthy discussions of literature and philosophy, so for these scenes to lose my engagement almost completely was a seriously bad sign for me. I think that I'm Thinking of Ending Things may have gotten away with its surreal nature and complicated narrative if it was a lot shorter.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things is always in danger of losing its audience completely due to its tangled structure and intricate plot. You only need to type the film into any search engine and you will immediately see dozens of articles and threads attempting to explain the plot. There is nothing inherently wrong with a film like that, but there is definitely a fine line for me between a film being mentally challenging and needing some explanation to a film needing a detailed breakdown just so the audience can even understand what the film was about. In fact when I read a bit further into the film, I thought that it made perfect sense and was even quite impressed with how it had been interpreted from the novel from which it was adapted. But again therein lies a complex issue - does understanding the film after the fact suddenly mean that it was a good film? This is why I have struggled so much with this review.
Overall, impressive visuals and performances that I have thought on since. However, the rest of the film and the ideas and feelings that it was trying to capture and portray always felt just out of reach for me. I found myself wondering how much of the running time was left and feeling frequently disengaged. For that reason, I found I'm Thinking of Ending Things a frustrating watch. It is a film that I may need to return to one day - whether that day be in the past, present or future.
The rating: ✭✭✭
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