One of the biggest things I’ve noticed while reading people’s observations on the film as a whole is that it’s going over everybody’s head. I can’t even tell you how many comments I’ve read that didn’t understand the film at all. To them, it’s just this massive self-indulgent mess of incoherent dialogue, all of which amounts to nothing. Far too many people think they wasted their time watching the movie. So, my goal during this review is to maybe get you in a different mindset before you watch it. That way, you’ll have the best possible chance to enjoy it, but I fear that this is one of those instances where you’ll either understand it…or you won’t. I’m not going to hand you the meaning of the film on a silver platter. If I did that, that would be stealing the experience from somebody else.

Here’s my first suggestion: Keep an open mind and pay attention to everything. I’m not kidding when I say the entirety of this movie, whether you believe it or not, is important. The film, and Charlie Kaufman in general, is incredibly high-brow, so there’s a lot of scholarly references made in the film that won’t mean that much to you. However, if you sat and researched those references, you would be able to appreciate the whole movie a little more. You don’t NEED to understand absolutely everything, though. Just pay attention to the little things, like the main girl’s name. Every time they call her something, pay attention because her name keeps changing. That’s not much of a spoiler because its nothing they even focus on that much. If you miss it, you miss it, Kaufman doesn’t care if you catch these little things or not. But it is important, so keep an eye on that. Also keep an eye on the color changes, primarily in what the girl is wearing. As she discovers more about her world and her environment, her physical appearance keeps transforming. When you first see her, she’s very, very red. Red hair, red hat, red coat, red shirt. When she gets to the parents, there’s a lot of blue and yellow hues to what she’s wearing, which matches the odd nature of the house. In the third act, she apparently has a wardrobe change and has a blue hat, blue coat, blue shirt, and her once bright red hair is now very, very dark. This is also symbolizing the changes her character is going through.

Here’s my second suggestion: Watch this movie like it’s either an episode of The Twilight Zone or is all a dream. Charlie Kaufman often focuses on how the mind works. Most prominently seen in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, that film does a great job at showing you the weird fragments of how a mind pieces together a puzzle. I’m Thinking of Ending Things sometimes follows the same procedure, just in a much more contained and less-explosive manner. Don’t watch this as a normal linear story. Those that do will undoubtedly be lost. Instead, I implore you to watch it like it’s a puzzle that needs to be solved. Be your own Sherlock Holmes and try to solve the puzzle. If you don’t get it on the first go, watch it all over again and try again. It might take a few viewings before it clicks, but that’s okay. Don’t despair or give up, because it’s a very smart movie. Once you figure it out, your mind will be blown.

If I had anything negative to say about it at all is that I didn’t figure all the little things out. Why are there scratches at the door? Why is everyone apologizing for the smell? What’s up with the Oklahoma musical? What’s up with the dancers? There’s all these little things that happen in the movie that definitely mean something, even if metaphorically, that I couldn’t quite figure out on the first viewing, and because it’s so utterly high-brow, there’s all these references to people, books, and things that a normal audience member will never be able to understand without hours of research at minimum. So, a part of me wants to say that the film is unnecessarily self-indulgent at times, but it’s not an incoherent mess. I understand the overall point, and if you can do that, the rest won’t matter as much.

Let’s take a look at my final score. From an unbiased, technical level, I think this is a very smart movie that does a very good job at keeping things original and unpredictable. It’s slightly self-indulgent at times, but to be fair, what isn’t? My unbiased score is 90%. My personal, biased score is slightly lower at 86%, which is still pretty good, but my experience as a whole went from bored, to confused, to uncomfortable before it got interested in the film. I much prefer the last two acts over the first. Averaging out the two scores together, we come to the final rating of 88%. 88 out of 100 possible stars, granting the movie with a letter grade of B+. Not too shabby at all.

1.5 / 2 directing & technical aspect
1 / 1 story
1 / 1 act I
1 / 1 act II
.5 / 1 act III
1 / 1 acting
1 / 1 writing
.5 / 1 originality
.5 / 1 lasting ability to make you think

0 / 0 misc

8 / 10

Great surreal movie about relationships and life in general. For me, it was one of the easier surreal movies to understand. When you're used to David Lynch, Charlie Kaufman is a breath of fresh air. I may only think I understand it because I'm interpreting this movie in my own way, but that's the whole idea of a surreal movie. The point is, there weren't many things in the movie that made me think "why the hell was that put in the movie?" Everything pretty much made sense as a metaphor, if not in the moment, then by the end of the movie. And that made it enjoyable in a different way than most movies like this.

Yes it is slow. Yes it is weird. When it's surreal, that's pretty much always what you'll get. But if you like introspection, if you like darkness, if you like seeing things that make you think, then this movie is for you. If not, there's plenty of other stuff out there.

That being said, the choice for the 3rd act finale was.... just bad. [spoiler]Not a fan of singing in movies unless it's funny.[/spoiler] But that by no means ruins the movie.

If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog @
https//www.msbreviews.com

Charlie Kaufman is undeniably one of the greatest writers of the 2000s. Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are some of his most notable works, but it’s Synecdoche, New York that’s considered by many as one of the best films of the respective decade. Therefore, I was obviously excited about his return to live-action movies (since 2008, he’s only made the animated feature, Anomalisa). I’m Thinking of Ending Things boasts an incredibly talented cast, capable of seating me down and make me watch any film they participate in, even though Jessie Buckley (Dolittle) is sort of a new face to me. My expectations were moderately high, so how did it go?

I’m not going to lie, I found this movie so intricate that I had a really hard time figuring it all out. As soon as it ended, I knew I didn’t understand it in full, which generated an unusual yet refreshing feeling inside me. I felt the need to not only think about the film all night but since I didn’t have the time to watch it again, I returned to a few specific scenes in the next morning. I also researched a bit and talked with a fellow critic to settle some of my mind’s internal debates. I write this to imply that this is not an easy movie to decipher, which will definitely throw some people off. It’s a film that requires all of the viewer’s attention and self-questioning capability. Otherwise, things will get complicated.

As usual, I’m not sharing any spoilers, so I’ll keep my opinion about the story’s multiple interpretations to the bare minimum. Of all the numerous ways of explaining this movie, I found two: either from Jessie Buckley’s character’s perspective or from Jesse Plemons’. I like both for different reasons. In terms of logic, which every viewer will struggle to find, Plemons’ character is the key to understand the remarkably complex, multi-layered narrative. Looking at the film from his perspective, everything makes much more sense. However, it’s surprisingly from Buckley’s view that I find the movie’s message to be more interesting and likely to resonate with most people.

Making an impactful move in life requires determination, courage, decisiveness. Moving to another country, switching jobs, ending a relationship… all can be extremely demanding and psychologically painful. I’m Thinking of Ending Things brilliantly demonstrates how one can delay these actions sometimes indefinitely. From the excruciatingly long car drives (almost an hour of the runtime is spent inside the car listening to the main characters debating apparently random philosophical themes) to the enigmatic transitions of time passing by, Kaufman’s screenplay keeps transmitting a message of how people are stationary and time just keeps flowing.

This film takes ambiguousness and metaphoric filmmaking to a whole other level. Not only everything the viewer is seeing has, in some shape or form, a philosophical meaning, but the dialogues between the main characters are themselves about cultural, intellectual, sophisticated matters. Some of these conversations have an eventual impact in the narrative or in the characters, some just feel like Kaufman needed to express his thoughts on several subjects. With a runtime of slightly over two hours, this movie overstays its welcome a bit due to the insistence in delivering repetitive, similar scenes with the same goal.

The time shenanigans performed in the parents’ house is undoubtedly intriguing, but it’s more distracting than helpful story-wise. Having in mind the already puzzling narrative, the confusion associated with understanding how time works only creates even more doubts. It also deviates the viewer’s attention from the real focus, which didn’t help my first viewing. In fact, I was so concentrated trying to comprehend the purpose behind the old-young versions of the characters that I completely lost track of the runtime, ultimately thinking the film was near its ending when it still had forty minutes to go…

There’s a limit to how abstract and implicit a movie can be without becoming genuinely hard to understand, and Kaufman walks that threshold. Successful sometimes, not that much in other moments. Nevertheless, I can only share compliments from now on. Firstly, the cast. I’ve been in love with anything Toni Collette does since Hereditary, and once again, she’s weirdly captivating as an amusing yet disturbing mother. David Thewlis offers a subtler performance, as well as Jesse Plemons, even though the latter explodes with emotion in the third act.

However, Jessie Buckley steals the spotlight in impeccable fashion. Like I mentioned in the beginning, I know very little of her as an actress, but I’ll make sure to add her to the list of “actresses to follow closely”. With one of the biggest emotional ranges seen this year, she delivers an incredibly captivating display, one that should guarantee her name in future contender’s list for the awards season. From citing entire poems to fiercely debating any topic thrown at her by Plemons, her commitment to the role is palpable. An astonishing performance that I will remember for a long time. However, it’s in the technical realm that this film achieves perfection.

Without the shadow of a doubt, this is the best movie of the year when it comes to the technical attributes (until the date of this review, obviously). Almost every filmmaking element carries a tremendous impact in either the narrative or its characters. The purposefully rough editing (Robert Frazen) adds to the perplexing atmosphere. The lighting plus the production (Molly Hughes) and set design (Mattie Siegal) help identify “where” a particular event is happening. The detailed costume design (Melissa Toth) and the impressive makeup are vital to the understanding of everything that occurs in the parents’ house. The distinct cinematography (Łukasz Żal) elevates every single action performed by the characters. It’s a technically flawless film, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it being nominated for several categories when the time comes.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things might be a Netflix original movie, but it screams A24 all the way. From the incredibly perplexing narrative told through bizarre storytelling to its distinctly unconventional technical characteristics, Charlie Kaufman offers a remarkably complex film that can take different interpretations (and may require more than one viewing). His insistence in transmitting one of the film’s messages through never-ending philosophical conversations and confusing time-bending distractions stretch the story to an unnecessary long runtime that hurts the overall piece. Nevertheless, all messages are successfully delivered through an intriguing, head-scratching, weirdly captivating story packed with cultural debates and unique characters. An absolutely outstanding Jessie Buckley elevates every single line of dialogue, showing tremendous emotional range, but the impressively talented cast also improves the multi-layered screenplay. Technically, it is and it will remain as one of the best movies of the year. Every technical aspect is close to perfection, and almost all have a massive impact on the story and how the viewer interprets it. It will undoubtedly create a gap between critics and audiences since it has all the ingredients that usually place these groups at opposite extremes. I can only recommend it to people who are able to dedicate their full attention to what they’re watching while being capable of self-questioning. It’s not your usual Netflix flick to pop during tedious home tasks to help pass the time, so make sure you know what you're getting into!

Rating: B

If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog @
https//www.msbreviews.com

Charlie Kaufman is undeniably one of the greatest writers of the 2000s. Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are some of his most notable works, but it’s Synecdoche, New York that’s considered by many as one of the best films of the respective decade. Therefore, I was obviously excited about his return to live-action movies (since 2008, he’s only made the animated feature, Anomalisa). I’m Thinking of Ending Things boasts an incredibly talented cast, capable of seating me down and make me watch any film they participate in, even though Jessie Buckley (Dolittle) is sort of a new face to me. My expectations were moderately high, so how did it go?

I’m not going to lie, I found this movie so intricate that I had a really hard time figuring it all out. As soon as it ended, I knew I didn’t understand it in full, which generated an unusual yet refreshing feeling inside me. I felt the need to not only think about the film all night but since I didn’t have the time to watch it again, I returned to a few specific scenes in the next morning. I also researched a bit and talked with a fellow critic to settle some of my mind’s internal debates. I write this to imply that this is not an easy movie to decipher, which will definitely throw some people off. It’s a film that requires all of the viewer’s attention and self-questioning capability. Otherwise, things will get complicated.

As usual, I’m not sharing any spoilers, so I’ll keep my opinion about the story’s multiple interpretations to the bare minimum. Of all the numerous ways of explaining this movie, I found two: either from Jessie Buckley’s character’s perspective or from Jesse Plemons’. I like both for different reasons. In terms of logic, which every viewer will struggle to find, Plemons’ character is the key to understand the remarkably complex, multi-layered narrative. Looking at the film from his perspective, everything makes much more sense. However, it’s surprisingly from Buckley’s view that I find the movie’s message to be more interesting and likely to resonate with most people.

Making an impactful move in life requires determination, courage, decisiveness. Moving to another country, switching jobs, ending a relationship… all can be extremely demanding and psychologically painful. I’m Thinking of Ending Things brilliantly demonstrates how one can delay these actions sometimes indefinitely. From the excruciatingly long car drives (almost an hour of the runtime is spent inside the car listening to the main characters debating apparently random philosophical themes) to the enigmatic transitions of time passing by, Kaufman’s screenplay keeps transmitting a message of how people are stationary and time just keeps flowing.

This film takes ambiguousness and metaphoric filmmaking to a whole other level. Not only everything the viewer is seeing has, in some shape or form, a philosophical meaning, but the dialogues between the main characters are themselves about cultural, intellectual, sophisticated matters. Some of these conversations have an eventual impact in the narrative or in the characters, some just feel like Kaufman needed to express his thoughts on several subjects. With a runtime of slightly over two hours, this movie overstays its welcome a bit due to the insistence in delivering repetitive, similar scenes with the same goal.

The time shenanigans performed in the parents’ house is undoubtedly intriguing, but it’s more distracting than helpful story-wise. Having in mind the already puzzling narrative, the confusion associated with understanding how time works only creates even more doubts. It also deviates the viewer’s attention from the real focus, which didn’t help my first viewing. In fact, I was so concentrated trying to comprehend the purpose behind the old-young versions of the characters that I completely lost track of the runtime, ultimately thinking the film was near its ending when it still had forty minutes to go…

There’s a limit to how abstract and implicit a movie can be without becoming genuinely hard to understand, and Kaufman walks that threshold. Successful sometimes, not that much in other moments. Nevertheless, I can only share compliments from now on. Firstly, the cast. I’ve been in love with anything Toni Collette does since Hereditary, and once again, she’s weirdly captivating as an amusing yet disturbing mother. David Thewlis offers a subtler performance, as well as Jesse Plemons, even though the latter explodes with emotion in the third act.

However, Jessie Buckley steals the spotlight in impeccable fashion. Like I mentioned in the beginning, I know very little of her as an actress, but I’ll make sure to add her to the list of “actresses to follow closely”. With one of the biggest emotional ranges seen this year, she delivers an incredibly captivating display, one that should guarantee her name in future contender’s list for the awards season. From citing entire poems to fiercely debating any topic thrown at her by Plemons, her commitment to the role is palpable. An astonishing performance that I will remember for a long time. However, it’s in the technical realm that this film achieves perfection.

Without the shadow of a doubt, this is the best movie of the year when it comes to the technical attributes (until the date of this review, obviously). Almost every filmmaking element carries a tremendous impact in either the narrative or its characters. The purposefully rough editing (Robert Frazen) adds to the perplexing atmosphere. The lighting plus the production (Molly Hughes) and set design (Mattie Siegal) help identify “where” a particular event is happening. The detailed costume design (Melissa Toth) and the impressive makeup are vital to the understanding of everything that occurs in the parents’ house. The distinct cinematography (Łukasz Żal) elevates every single action performed by the characters. It’s a technically flawless film, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it being nominated for several categories when the time comes.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things might be a Netflix original movie, but it screams A24 all the way. From the incredibly perplexing narrative told through bizarre storytelling to its distinctly unconventional technical characteristics, Charlie Kaufman offers a remarkably complex film that can take different interpretations (and may require more than one viewing). His insistence in transmitting one of the film’s messages through never-ending philosophical conversations and confusing time-bending distractions stretch the story to an unnecessary long runtime that hurts the overall piece. Nevertheless, all messages are successfully delivered through an intriguing, head-scratching, weirdly captivating story packed with cultural debates and unique characters. An absolutely outstanding Jessie Buckley elevates every single line of dialogue, showing tremendous emotional range, but the impressively talented cast also improves the multi-layered screenplay. Technically, it is and it will remain as one of the best movies of the year. Every technical aspect is close to perfection, and almost all have a massive impact on the story and how the viewer interprets it. It will undoubtedly create a gap between critics and audiences since it has all the ingredients that usually place these groups at opposite extremes. I can only recommend it to people who are able to dedicate their full attention to what they’re watching while being capable of self-questioning. It’s not your usual Netflix flick to pop during tedious home tasks to help pass the time, so make sure you know what you're getting into!

Rating: B

I'll be honest, I didn't fully have a clue what was happening for large portions. Yet, I still weirdly enjoyed watching 'I’m Thinking of Ending Things'.

I think the main reasons for that are the two leads: Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons. They kept everything feeling fresh and intriguing to me, both have their moments in this. Toni Collette and David Thewlis also do very well. I like the cast, for sure.

As for the plot, it didn't do anything for me but it did keep me thinking which I appreciated. I, personally, would've preferred a shorter run time and clearer meaning - the latter is just me though, I'm sure others will adore the way the film is portrayed.

Some other reviewers have put it perfectly in terms of matching me: not nous enough to 'get it', but it still comes across as a good film. I'm fine with that, each to their own as always.