I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman, 2020) Movie • Page 5

I really didn't like Anomalisa at all and Synecdoche New York is one of my top 10 films of all time. No clue what to expect from this.

 

Need to see Synecdoche, New York ASAP

So so excited for this movie

 

Adore Synecdoche and Anomalisa. Eternal Sunshine, Being John Malcovich and Adaptation are some of my favourites too.

 

The financial failure of Synecdoche robbed us of so much. At least now he is working somewhat consistently.

 

I loved this so much. It's crazy how much his movies always seem to perfectly hit the thoughts and feelings I'm having around the time I watch them. This one especially, the way it explores time, identity and individual perception of reality is somehow exactly what I've been thinking about for the last few days. Easily my favourite film of the year so far.

 

....well, the first hour and 40 minutes of this was pretty incredible

 

been looking forward to watching this all week, very excited. I watched Adaptation last night which I hadn't seen before and I really liked it

 

Deep into the book now. Like it much better than the last time i tried. Quick read, should be able to finish by tonight

 

the central bit of this movie with Collette and Thewlis is one of the greatest things I've seen in a long long time, it's maybe up there with Kaufman's best work. but then the last 30 minutes were uh... a thing

 

I finished the book, haven't watched the movie yet, but (major spoiler ahead) wanted to say I think it's super funny they cast a Jessie and Jesse in the lead roles given the ending.

 

what did you dislike about the ending?

 

I still don't know if I really understand the twist - if you can call it that - but my gut reaction? I hate that none of the characters were apparently real, or were fictionalised versions of reality or whatever. Jessie Buckley was doing year-best work building a character who wasn't real and she just disappears from the film when it's time to get to the big finale, which sucks

I also... well I hate the big finale is some dude, I don't even remotely know on what level of reality, singing a song from I think Oklahoma(?) while everyone's in fucking terrible C-grade old age makeup. I think the critique of that scene is kind of self-evident in the description of it lol

I'm really frustrated because everything up until they pulled into the high school was riveting, terrifying and hilarious at the same time and the performances of the four main actors were all incredible, and none of that really means anything because the last 30 minutes undo the whole damn film

 

I can see that, but the characters being part of his mind don't really make them any less real than they are as characters in a movie. They still matter and have meaning, it just changes how we perceive them and what came before.

I can definitely see the criticism of the final scene, it was probably my least favourite part of the movie and I'm not entirely sure I get what it was going for. I think it sort of summed up his life in a way but yeah, not the strongest ending.

 

It's been interesting reading the reactions now and breaking it down (combining the book elements with the movie). But basically (my interpretation, with the help of others): The final scene has Jake reciting the final speech from "A Beautiful Mind" verbatim - a speech that never actually happened in real life from a guy that suffered from schizophrenia and talked to characters that didn't exist. The makeup part is making fun of the shitty old people makeup from that scene (I think Kaufman is just having fun poking fun at the cheesiness of Ron Howard movies, like he did with Robert Zemekis earlier).

The song he sings is "Lonely Room" from "Oklahoma," which is sung by the antagonist, Judd, a loner who's pining for a woman who's in love with another man and doesn't share the same feelings for him, but he convinces himself he can win her. I think that final scene speaks to the general character of the janitor (who I assume is channeling himself through both Jake and Lucy in his mind) - that he was a loner that never acted on his feelings (like Lucy mentioning he was just a creeper in the bar that wouldn't stop looking at him) and in his old age, just made up these interactions in his mind to compensate.

That's kind of a garbled explanation and I could be way off, but that was part of my interpretation. I also have no idea about the car making a whirring noise after the credits are over.

 

I didn't know the "A Beautiful Mind" speech part, that fits with his character in general using other peoples art and ideas to express himself.

 

These spoilers blackouts are killing me! I need to watch it tonight so I can chat haha

 

I'm looking forward to seeing more thoughts and reactions. I already can't wait to watch it again with some of my friends and see what they think.

 

holllyyyy shit. this was a ride. I fucking loved it all. I'm just gona spoiler tag all of it in case

the parts in Jake's childhood house house with his parents was the most uncomfortable I've felt watching a movie in a long time. I was honestly shocked to see there was still an hour of the movie left after they left the house. I loved the stuff in the school, the ballet scene was awesome.

I truthfully don't know what any of it meant or if any of it "worked", I need to digest this for a while...but I thought all the performances were fantastic.

 

I think I'm gona need to pick up the book, (if the movie follows the book closely) i have no idea how some of this stuff can be conveyed non-visually

 

Finished the book. I...idk

I got really into it and then the school stuff happened and it unraveled so quickly. I felt like the pacing was off. Again, it gave me like Creepypasta/spooky reddit writing. I’d like to read some analysis about it

 

For those of you who have read it and seen the film, how similar is it? A faithful adaptation? Spoiler tag I guess

 

I haven’t felt this discombobulated immediately after watching a movie since A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence or Holy Motors. I’m gonna have to do some reading.

 

Heavy handed on the twist pretty early on, huh?