Playing exceptionally well off each other the cast form a dynamic rhythm to pair with Kaufman’s dialogue. Courtesy of Netflix.įor a good portion of the run time its the four actors ping ponging opinions about the validity of abstract art, trying to recount the night they met, the conversation takes so many turns its like a form of cerebral anarchy. Jesse Plemons (left) and Jessie Buckley with the soon-to-be infamous chocolate cake. We think to ourselves “Did Jake just hear that?” Prepare to question everything in the film, from the wet dog shaking itself off to the way the young woman feeds Jake chocolate cake, it’s all incredibly strange, hilarious, and disturbing. “I’m thinking of ending things,” she says to herself with Jake’s reply being “what?” It’s these little moments Kaufman puts into the scenes that make the steady stream of dialogue much more palatable. Her voiceover is heard throughout the film, but in the 25 minutes long opening car ride it acts like a pestering little reminder about the insecurities she has in her budding romance. The film starts with a young woman (Jessie Buckley) getting in the car with her boyfriend of just a few weeks Jake (Jesse Plemons) on a long snowy ride to his parents’ (Toni Collette and David Thewlis) rural farmhouse house for dinner. Put that together with tension and a unique visual language the film becomes something more satisfying than I could have imagined. It’ll be hard to imagine a more satisfying, intellectual film this year. Borrowing and reappropriating strange little ideas like a gardener with a magic green thumb. Yet -the film based on Iain Reid’s 2016 novel of the same name- is perfectly unhinged. I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS is Kaufman’s best film yet as a director (his other two are SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK, and ANOMALISA) and still has about the same level of accessibility as you’d come to expect. Each one an individual idea that’s demanding to be born and maybe that’s why each script he writes (or directs) is searching for growth. Even for its flaws, Kaufman’s work always seemed like they were individual forms of self-expression. It’s dense, often super funny like a Kafka-esque nightmare of misogyny and misanthropy. To provide context for Kaufman’s work is kind of a pointless exercise, go watch some clips on Youtube, and get a feel for his wavelength. The late ’90s and early aughts were the most prolific time for Kaufman he wrote the screenplays for the Spike Jonze directed pictures BEING JOHN MALKOVICH and ADAPTATION, each more meta than the next. The multi-faceted screenwriter/director deserves “a whole row of Oscars,” and managed to nab one for his writing work on ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND back in 2005. Kaufman has made a name for himself as one of Hollywood’s more absurd humorist.

It suggests crippling indecision, or something a bit haunting. “IM THINKING OF ENDING THINGS…” How does that statement make you feel? Probably not so good.

Say the title to Charlie Kaufman’s latest film out loud. James Clay // Film Critic I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGSĬast: Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, Toni Collette and David Thewlis

Im thinking of ending things script