Review: I'm Thinking of Ending Things

I’m Thinking of Ending Things, directed by Charlie Kaufman, tells the tale of a guy named Jake (Jesse Plemons) who takes his young unnamed girlfriend (Jessie Buckley) to get acquainted with his mommy (Toni Collette) and daddy (David Thewlis). Unbeknownst of Jake, however, his young girlfriend is thinking about ending things, but unbeknownst to the girl, a strange sense of existential dread start to creep in when the couple get stuck in a snowstorm.

Charlie Kaufman is currently my favorite writer working today. He’s written some great classics like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich, and has recently dabbled with directing as well with Synecdoche, New York and most recently Anomalisa. Kaufman’s latest outing for Netflix, based on Iain Reed’s novel of the same name, is just as heady and thought-provoking as his previous films and also shows a notable improvement in directing his own films.

Kaufman’s visual craft as a director has never been better. A lot of the shot compositions are incredibly sleek and methodical; the film’s 4:3 aspect ratio tightly frames everything precisely, giving the film its claustrophobic feel. The performances were all very fantastic; Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons both give an incredible range of emotions flawlessly transitionin from one mood to another in a heartbeat. Toni Collette and David Thewlis were also fantastic, taking command of each scene they were in for their pretty brief appearance in this film.

Kaufman’s writing is as complex and layered as you’d expect. Each line of dialogue cleverly reveal a key detail with the film’s plot or its characters. When it comes to making the mundane feel important, no one can do better than Kaufman. Though one of my only issues with this film is its pacing. A lot of the scenes despite being well written go on a tad bit too long. Some of those scenes after much thought don’t seem to contribute all that much to the narrative; they just seem like Kaufman either making some inside jokes to friends of his in the industry or just Kaufman venting on story tropes done to death. There might be a deeper meaning to those scenes (and I won’t be surprise if there is and I’m just too dumb to see it) but to me personally they bog down an otherwise excellent film.

Overall this is definitely something to check out, especially if you’re a full believer of the Church of Kaufman. This is another unique and original film from the best writer working today and is worth checking out multiple times especially for catching those very subtle details in the story that Kaufman likes to litter around everywhere. People who like their films to be straight forward may be turned off by this film, but if you’re up to it check it out and see for yourself.

Final Verdict: 9/10