We’re approaching Halloween, so there should be some expectancy for a horror movie review. And what better sense of dread is there than the constant fear of growing old and alone. I often find myself pining for non-conventional horror films, ones that aren’t so reliant on cheap jump scares and insane gore. Here, we have a movie that taps into to the existential crisis of one’s own mortality. At face value, this movie appears to be a surrealist wet dream, making weird for the sake of being weird. There is, however, much more to this than what is thrown in your face. As the film is written by Charlie Kaufman (writer of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation), one can expect some very surreal imagery and hidden context. This movie, of which he directed, is layered with many hidden clues towards a greater message. In a David Lynch-inspired piece, it draws the innate fears that everyone suffers at some point in their lives. This is Charlie Kaufman’s ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things.’
This story places it’s focus on an unnamed young woman (Jessie Buckley), who is experiencing a large amount of doubt about continuing her relationship with her boyfriend, Jake (Jesse Plemons), whom of which she is accompanying on a trip to his parent’s house. We watch in real time as they drive towards the house, here we are forced to induce an uncomfortable journey where the two struggle to converse. The two eventually arrive at the house where the lines between reality and dream begin to blur. The girlfriend meets the parents, who appear to be quite detached from reality. The four have an uncomfortable dinner, after which they make their way to the living room where the unnamed protagonist insists on returning home, due to having to work the next day. Things begin to turn much stranger as we watch Jake’s parents shift in age frantically, baby pictures of the protagonist appear in the house and the dialogue becomes more and more dreamlike. All of this is interspersed with a mysterious school janitor. His story is unclear of how it connects to the main characters, but there are signs of a much deeper connection that becomes clearer as the film progresses.
The main protagonist is the driving force behind everything in this film. At first you feel comfortable in a realistic setting, you understand the fears and anxieties of the character. When the film starts to take a bizarre turn, you feel just as uncomfortable as her. You claw desperately at some semblance of reality, so you naturally follow the protagonist, but even she isn’t free from this dream-like world. Once the main plot kicked in, there was a never a moment where I felt grounded in reality. And yet, there was a constant, morbid curiosity that would always plague my mind. Like placing the pieces of a complicated puzzle, I was begging for that solution.
Jake and his parents also provided a large amount of intrigue. Jake is a hard character to read. He initially appears to be quite awkward, but he later becomes temperamental, shouting at his parents. The eccentric personalities of his parents was fascinating to watch. There was a nice balance of comedy and uneasiness through their performances, feeling otherworldly but also characters that can ease you into the weirdness of the world. David Thewlis and Toni Collette provide excellent contrasts to the two leads, even pulling off the age-old tradition of actors dressing up in old-person make up and managing to make it genuinely convincing. The constantly shifting ages of the parents added to the possible message towards aging and self-doubt.
This movie has a very split reaction; some have brushed this off as needlessly complicated for the sake of being weird, while other have dived into the hidden context. My initial reaction had left me truly confused. I initially had the impression that movie would be in real-time all throughout due to the car scene. I also didn’t expect the film to be as surreal as it was, even knowing Kaufman directed it. Once the movie began entering that abstract world, my mind began to race. What this movie does is nothing short of genius. It taps into one’s fears, creating a horror that is so believable that it unsettles you constantly. Despite it’s surrealist tone, there is a latent reality that emerges in one’s mind. The movie tricks you into believing that the unnamed protagonist is the main focus, but one must, instead, turn their focus to Jake. There are small signs towards a more fictitious reality. The constantly shifting story of how the two leads met, the dialogue being geared towards Jake’s accomplishments and the way the janitor’s story has subtle connections to the main plot. Though the meaning is left, purposely, ambiguous, there is intent behind it.
Many have had their own interpretations of what the film is trying to suggest. The only thing that seems to be, generally, agreed upon is the theme of growing old. There are several occasions where the characters discuss their futures, the parents are shown excelling in age and the mysterious janitor is shown to be an old man who looks on at the younger students with a sense of wanting to belong. All of this cultivates into the final act, dark and otherworldly, it becomes a literal stage performance. To talk about the deeper meanings that I, myself, got out of this would be to spoil the film. However I do want to touch upon my initial take-away. Without spoiling the ending, I could sense that the connection between the janitor and the lead characters was far deeper than one might think. I was able to predict the outcome quite early on, but I believe that this was because I was familiar with Kaufman’s style of writing. I had initially believed that the message was about negative relationships, but the more I stewed on it, I could see there was much more to this. I started to question how much of the film was truly real. With that mindset, I went from simply enjoying the film to loving it. I can’t really say anymore without spoiling the last act. I simply implore you all to check it out, and come up with your own interpretation. It’s a slow burner, but it’s a great one.
Written review by C. Johnson.