Written by Charlie Kaufman, based on a book by Iain Reid
Directed by Charlie Kaufman Starring Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette, Jesse Plemons and David Thewlis
Running time: 2 hours and 14 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for language including some sexual references

by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport 

“You’re the expert on things cinematic…”   
“Yea. I am.” 

Snowstorms can be quite deceptive.

In January several moons ago it was a Sunday evening at my parent's home, I was eighteen years of age. The snow started falling finely around five o’clock or so. In what would become a rare occurrence, I was hanging out with my brother and, well, we were actually having a great time. Reminiscing and bonding, chatting like old war buddies. I had to head back to school. At the time, I was attending a university that would go down as just one of my many mistakes as I entered into my twenties. A backwards institution located in the exact middle of nowhere. 

Time passed and the snow got thicker. I decided to hit the road around eight.  I was a fearless teen and  I had my pop punk cds to keep me safe. As the snow gracefully hit the windshield, I had a sense of calmness. I became more confident, hit the gas pedal a little harder. The twisty crooked mountainous roads didn’t scare me, until they did. I suddenly found the car spinning out of control, my life whizzing before my eyes. I often think about this event when I experience a moment of déja vu. 

I regale you in this tale because, after watching Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things, it's really the only way in which I can articulate my feelings in the most sensical way possible. Except for maybe the stellar production design and notable acting from the two leads Buckley and Plemmons (two actors that I would just about watch anything with them in)  I’m somewhat at a loss of words for what I witnessed. The movie starts off much like the evening I experienced on that frosty January… mundane. A young woman (Jessie Buckley) hops into her boyfriend Jake’s (Jesse Plemons) car en route to meet his parents for the first time. The snow has begun to fall and it is still at the peaceful stage, the literal calm before the storm. As the young woman watches the open fields whiz by, she has inner thoughts ranging from wanting to end the relationship with Jake to realizing the entire trip was a huge mistake. She has concerns she is sending the wrong message by meeting his parents, an occasion that is often seen by many as a serious step. As the snow gets heavier, her anxiety grows. She has to be home in the morning for work, and as the view ahead becomes more murky, she insists they turn around. Jake comforts her by saying, he has chains for the tires. Much like their vision was being hindered by the treacherous blizzard-like conditions, one could say the characters will find themselves with a similar feeling as they go deeper into this story. 

I thought I  was prepared for the Kaufman upside down. That I was in full anticipation for the time the story would go off the rails, taking me to a land of irrationality. Unfortunately, my brain was not primed for this occurrence. When the young woman and Jake arrive at his parent’s farm home in obscurity, is also the time in which I found myself struggling the most to compute the events that were unfolding. My mind was telling me to make sense of the madness. Amidst the muted colors and stylishly wallpapered farmhouse there had to be a logical answer to the disorder that continued to expand. Essentially, through the course of several hours (?) the young woman interacts with Jake’s parents, played exceptionally well by (Toni Collette and David Thewlis) as they were, as they would be and who they are now. I would not go as far to say it was time traveling as more of an observational way of seeing time.

This movie is extremely hard to describe and will leave each viewer with their own unique takeaway. The opportunity that I have allowed it to stew in my brain left me with the conclusion that this is not something meant to be figured out. Much like there is no wrong way to eat a reese’s cup, there is no right answer. It is a film that was put into our existence to simply be. To inspire conversation, much like what happened with my husband and I immediately following the film. Amongst this hellscape that we have all been living in for the majority of 2020, I can’t tell you the last time we had such meaningful dialogue. 

In the end, we are just living in a show. Often, one that is filled with shit. Time does not stop, no matter how much I try to control it. Much like the young woman suggests, “it passes through us like the wind.” A life filled with razzle dazzle and the headaches that occasionally, much like Jake and the young woman, takes a pit stop to for a treat that is too darn sweet. In which one then finds them self cruising down the highway in a snowstorm obsessively needing to unload the melting disaster immediately before it makes the cup holder sticky. My simple mind may have not understood much about this film, but I understood that scene.

Available to watch now on Netflix.