“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” leaves audience heartbreakingly disappointed

2 out of 5 stars

Charlie Kaufman’s “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is the sort of film you immediately look up explanations for after the credits roll. That’s what I did and the first result I found was an interview with the writer/director where he generously explained what he was going for when adapting Iain Reid’s 2016 novel of the same name. Kaufman eventually says, “You either get it or you don’t.” This goes against his earlier encouragement, when he says, “I really do support anybody’s interpretation.” I am not here to criticize an interview, but I think that contradiction is key to understanding what makes Kaufman’s latest a heartbreaking disappointment: this is not a movie that supports any interpretation but Kaufman’s.

On paper, Kaufman seems like the top-living filmmaker to handle a story about an entirely unreliable narrative. Kaufman has such a devoted following for his endlessly layered screenplays for movies like “Being John Malkovich,” “Adaptation,” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Those are films that demand repeat viewings without feeling like chores; movies where you desire each new discovery while still being able to thoroughly enjoy the core experience. 

This film, Kaufman’s third feature as a director, is on-par with studying for tests about a subject you’ll never need in your daily life. It isn’t necessarily boring, but it is so deliberately obfuscating that the viewer feels just as stuck in the blizzard as the characters, except we aren’t dealing with anything as easy as snow; instead, we’re stuck with an onslaught of emotionally-frozen information intended to illuminate scenes that weren’t very interesting to begin with.

At the very start, it looks like this will be a sadly relatable story about a woman (Jessie Buckley, giving the best performance of the film) going to meet the family of her new boyfriend, Jake (Jesse Plemons), despite knowing in her heart that she’s going to dump him. This is honestly all I can say about the story before it goes off the rails and every curve and turn leads into a minefield of spoilers. 

But it is safe to tell you that, when they reach Jake’s childhood farm, his parents (David Thewlis and Toni Collette) are acting like lunatics. They are constantly dialed to 11 on the cringe meter and have literally no other dimension… Except for what the movie is hiding from us about their true purpose; a purpose we cannot see, but are expected to figure out for ourselves with the obscure crumbs of information rationed to us. 

That’s the sort of “maybe it is, maybe it isn’t” Hell we’re rambling with in this film. Kaufman is no stranger to taking audiences on journeys that are both perplexing and thrillingly moving, but “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is entirely perplexing. 

To the film’s credit, it does want us to derive emotional catharsis from some moments; the last 20 minutes of this film are gorgeously shot and orchestrated, displaying Kaufman’s virtuosic, career-long mastery of having dreamlike imagery collide with brutal reality. They crash in such striking ways that even the most baffled viewer will struggle not to feel something, but that’s the problem: the viewer will be feeling the itch of some emotion, but the film hasn’t given them any way of identifying where it’s coming from. 

Frustratingly, this is a movie that will no doubt be defended by the copout explanation I cited from the creator: “You either get it, or you don’t.” And there is no room here for anybody who doesn’t. Chances are when they research the complexities of the film and find the keys to unlocking the chest, they will want no part of its contents, as the price isn’t worth the effort you put into it.

It would be irresponsible of me to drag this film without acknowledging how good it looks. It’s a film with 3 or 4 settings, and each one has a distinct art direction that brings a biting coldness out of even the warmest colors. The focused, precise camera movements and the subtle emphasis on repetitive, nervous background noises gives this unclassifiable film a more unsettling edge than most horror movies. 

For this, immense credit is owed to the cinematography by Lukasz Zal, the music by Jay Wadley, and the production design by Merissa Lombardo (their combined credits show veteran knowledge of atmospheric, grounded settings: the visuals of “Ida” and “Cold War,” the music of “Indignation,” and the isolated settings of 2018’s “Suspiria”). It is the entire team of sound designers that most make this feel like a unique big-screen experience that is mournfully absent from theaters (because of, you know). I can’t help but wonder if my grade for this film would be any higher if I had been in a theater and the understated yet slyly cruel nature of the sounds were able to immerse me in the way only big-screen experiences can. 

This is a supremely talented team of people who should be responsible for a masterpiece, but because of the self-indulgences of the captain, they are instead crewed to a wreck that only looks like a masterpiece.

“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” doesn’t feel like it was made to be shared, but displayed and reveled in as an upper-class artwork only a secret society of film scholars, esteemed writers and, of course, the director’s friends can relish in. I believe this is a movie that thought it would be as interesting as it is confusing, and that the latter feeling wouldn’t smother the former, but ultimately it is just a two-plus-hour headache you drown inside.