He and Jake seem to have a connection – one finishing the other’s thoughts. We will get glimpses of the janitor we saw at the opening sequences as he cleans a high school and watches students rehearse a musical. On the drive, Dodsworth’s poem “Ode: Intimations of Immortality” will be recited and Pauline Kael’s review of John Cassavetes’ “A Woman under the Influence” will be assimilated. The dreamlike road trip takes place in the middle of a storm and she reminds Jake she needs to be back that evening to finish a paper for school. She’s on her way to meet Jake’s parents at their farm despite the fact that she’s only known him for six weeks and she’s thinking of ending the relationship. One thing that is important is to have permission to interpret and not feel the necessity to have things spelled out.Īs the movie proceeds the young woman will be referred to by different names – Lucy, Louisa, Lucia. I describe these opening moments for if you pay careful attention to their details – and their pattern – it helps in uncovering the internal dialectic of the narrative. All of a sudden, that character, Jake, will pull up in a car and pick up the young woman. Another shot of the young woman waiting by the side of the road followed by a similar shot from the window, but now a young man. We will see the woman on the street waiting for a car and soon after an older man observing her from a window above saying something unintelligible to us. As she speaks, we will see the intricate print of a wallpaper that will visually shift into another – and the camera will start moving through the empty rooms of a house. As the story unfolds – we hear the voice of a young woman speaking. It’s an adaptation of Ian Reid’s 2016 novel of the same name. It’s Kaufman’s most melancholic work – some critics have called it bleak. It’s a good thing it premiered on Netflix because it needs repeated viewings to fully grasp its complexities – and appreciate the extraordinary way it has been assembled. It’s definitely one of the best films of the unlike-any-other year 2020. This last work is his most confounding and densest – and his most masterful. They’re highly engrossing and entertaining works that are non-linear and challenging. Like in his previous screenplays “Adaptation,” the Oscar-winning “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” as well as “Synecdoche, New York” and “Anomalisa” which he directed, “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” delves into ideas of individuality, existentialism, mortality and the meaning of life – through a narrative that is abstract and philosophical and self-aware. It explores all those feelings of loneliness and illusory logic that we’ve been swirling in. Charlie Kaufman’s new film “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is so about the now. I experienced a sense of isolation and confusion. It wasn’t until Saturday that I realized my false sense of reality. This week, I telephoned on Thursday night – my sister-in-law told me my mother wasn’t there. Since our new normal started, my mom has dinners with my brother on Friday evenings, and I call then so I can catch up with the entire family. Last Thursday, I thought it was Friday, perhaps I was anticipating the weekend. In the past few months, I have had extremely vivid dreams – and there have been times when my colleagues have momentarily confused the day of the week. It’s good to remind yourself the world’s larger than the inside of your own head.” – Jake
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