[Warning: This article may contain spoilers.]
“What the fuck?” is an understatement when it comes to describing “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.” Released just last weekend on Netflix, the latest brainchild of Charlie Kaufman (talents include: storytelling and fucking us up) follows a young woman who travels with her boyfriend Jake to meet his parents in a faraway farm. There’s a blizzard. Some poems. And a whole lot of thoughts. One of them is she’s thinking of ending things.
Eerie, morose and absolutely dark, “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” proves that Kaufman may have planted an omnipresent CCTV that follows our every move. Not only outside but also on the deepest shelf in our heads.
As characters traverse their personal universes in a philosophical and existential case study, viewers are confronted with the strange reality of aging, dreams, perception, memories and more. TL;DR: Kaufman-shaped loneliness.
To be honest, I still feel stuck in that road trip. “You can’t fake a thought,” Jake said, so maybe sharing mine during the runtime could help me go back. (Warning: Might sound like no context tweets.)
- Sorry, I’m never going to count sheep in my sleep again.
- You know that feeling when you’ve written a word too many times and it appears misspelled the longer you look at it? I didn’t know this phenomenon is important enough for Kaufman. Genius.
- Jake’s family is definitely not a ghost. It would be very un-Kaufmanlike. My eyes are locked on Jimmy, the dog, more. For a first-time visitor, I’m surprised the dog didn’t even bark at Lucy.
- Wait, isn’t the woman’s name Lucy? Or is it the girl William Wordsworth dedicated his poem to? But why was she calling herself? But why is her name suddenly Louisa? Let me backtrack… wait, does she even exist? (Fast forward: The credits say “young woman.”)
- …Because come on, even her sweaters’ colors are changing. And then she goes, “color is merely a construct of our mind.” Thanks.
- Me, during this whole spot-the-difference kinda movie: ???
- Washing machines are the new TV. In terms of not knowing what pops out of it.
- I wonder what Post-it note people see when they see me. Besides, “most people are other people,” right? Wait, I’m not sure I want to agree with that. Please stop reading me.
- I want to delete Toni_Collette_hysterical_laugh_cry.mp3 in my hard drive as much as the next person.
- I’m thinking of ending things. And by that I mean the movie. Kidding, I’m already trapped so might as well go on. Like, trapped in snow. Alone. Jake, how does it feel seeing your whole life flash before your eyes?
- Of course, a manic pixie dream girl is good at painting, poetry and physics. Basically all of the things you wanted to be good at. Well, at least you’re diligent.
- Peak Misery: A Film. Or Extreme Simping: A Film.
- TBH, I have to give it to Kaufman’s magnification of details and hyperspecific characterization. This isn’t a horror film for me but the vastness of human existence—that pushed the film’s existence—is what frightens me. Kaufman, you know too much about us.
- Did I squint? Yeah. Did I open my eyes more? Yeah. Either way, I didn’t waste my two hours.
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Still from “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”