I'm Thinking of Ending Things - A Nonsensical Waste of Time

 The more I think back on <i>I'm Thinking of Ending Things<i>, the more and more I despise it. I went in open-minded, hoping for the best, considering I like Kaufman's work with <i>Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind<i>. I was shocked by how unbearable the film was by the end. I went with the film in its first half. That's where I feel the only positives in this film can be found. The three strengths here are Charlie Kaufman's directing and the performances by David Thewlis and Toni Collette. Kaufman's directing is quite beautiful and stylish in a way I enjoyed. He's able to shoot a simple car drive in the snow beautifully though he does that far too many times. However, the aspect ratio change was so needless. I am getting tired of directors changing the aspect ratio to a square because, in many cases, the more it just doesn't aid the plot or themes of the movie in any way I could notice. Kaufman felt like he was trying to be unique in his directing he failed to make his story engaging. The colors and dreamlike quality look that the film has I thought was great. The goodwill I had towards Kaufman's directing was gone by the time we had approached the second half of the film. I was ready for the movie to truly set its hooks in me and give us a good story, and it failed to do that. David Thewlis and Toni Collette were great. Here are two actors that I really enjoy watching and they were a lot of fun here. They perfectly capture the odd quality that Kaufman is going for in a great way. It's a shame they aren't in here more, even though I understand why they couldn't be in the movie more. That is where my compliments for the film ends. Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemmons aren't bad here. They're just bogged down by; poor writing. The narration that Jessie Buckley had to do here made me want to tear my hair out. Narration can be tricky, and Kaufman's infuriating "poetic" dialogue was unbearable to hear. I wanted her to shut up because I couldn't stand to hear what she was saying. You won't find more pretentious dialogue than what Kaufman has given you here. I felt so bad for Jessie Buckley because she's a very talented actress, and to see her have to act out this dialogue almost broke my heart. I am not a fan of the character she's playing and could not connect to her at all. I felt for Jesse Plemmons throughout this movie just because he had to put up with this character! Jesse Plemmons doesn't get it as bad, but the signs are still there. I don't know what kind of story Kaufman was wanting to tell here either. Is this the story about emotional relationships? If so, Kaufman sucks a lot more at painting a good relationship than I thought he did. Kaufman needs to see <i>A Marriage Story<i> because that's how you write a good relationship! The way this story move is unbearable as well. You can take some of the most mind-boggling films ever made like <i>2001<i>, <i>Tenet<i>, and <i>8 1/2<i> and yet they still have an understandable narrative. While the first half has a somewhat competent structure, the second half was nonsensical.

This movie does works as a good comparison to <i>Tenet<i>. I feel like this movie is what people claimed <i>Tenet<i> was. This movie does not have a lead character for audiences to form an attachment. That is what people said, and while to a certain degree in <i>Tenet's<i> case that is true, in many ways, it's not. While The Protagonist is underdeveloped, John David Washington and Nolan do enough to make the character a good figure for the audience to put themselves in. If that wasn't enough for some audiences, I understand. However, Kaufman failed to create a character that I can enjoy watching on screen. I want to be invested in their story and put connect with them. Kaufman failed to do so. People also said <i>Tenet<i> had a poor narrative structure. <i>Tenet<i> is just hard to, unlike having a poor narrative structure. Kaufman's writing for <i>I'm Thinking of Ending Things<i> is nonsensical and ridiculous. <i>I'm Thinking of Ending of Things<i> was one of the biggest wastes of my time ever. 

Strongest of not recommends

1/10