![]() ![]() She relates their meet-cute – they’re at a pub quiz, his team name is Brezhnev’s Eyebrows, he uses the words ‘ipseity’ and ‘cruciverbalist’ – which she doesn’t understand. The two drive to the farmhouse whilst discussing various philosophical and existential ideas along the way. How once a thought is there, it sticks, and how only thought is really ‘truth’ – that you can fake actions but not thoughts. The voiceover from the start of the film is exactly how the book begins, and the book talks a lot about thought. ![]() An unnamed female narrator is on a trip with her boyfriend Jake to visit his parents but she is having doubts about the relationship. Having already read the book might remove some of the mystery elements but the film is so evocative and sad and there’s still loads to be gained even if you know the deal from the off. ![]() It’s not so much of a ‘twist’ as a slow reveal. The film has horror elements but it has more in common with Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York – a beautiful, existential lament – a tragedy with elements of horror, thriller and mystery that encourages the viewer to understand what they are watching much earlier. If you already know the ending of the book it just isn’t anywhere near as scary – and approached cold for the first time, this is a really unsettling read. I’m Thinking of Ending Things is now on Netflix.If you can, you must read the book first because the book is a horror/thriller. This is a remarkable film, and it is one of the few films I can’t wait to watch again. ![]() Lucy herself at one point calls cinema a “societal malady,” comparing it to a virus “changing us into itself.” I guess we are what we eat, and in this case, what we watch and read. I’m Thinking of Ending Things suggests the impact pop culture has on the construction of our own identity, our own sense of self. It is not only what is being said that are quotations, but the images too cite previous works. It thus becomes clear that the moments that resemble Last Year in Marienbad function as another means of quoting the film. Nothing is original, all that we say and do are but mere echoes of what we’ve already read and seen. In the beginning dialogue between Lucy and Jake, they frequently comment quotes by Bette Davies or William Wordsworth for example, or common sayings, such as trains always ran on time under Mussolini. or a Pauline Kael film review, while Jesse Plemons’ Jake cites and sings many popular musicals. Many of the things Jessie Buckley’s character says are in fact quotes from other works, such as a poem by Canadian writer Eva H.D. The film many times questions where our ideas and thoughts come from, whether there are not just mere imitations or copies planted in by pre-existing materials from our society’s culture, such as movies, poems, novels or even film reviews. Doubting the very nature of our own thoughts as original. Doubting what you think you know, what you have been taught to know. One could say that the film explores the beginnings of a relationship, the anxiety of first meeting the parents. I’m Thinking of Ending Things can be interpreted in a number of ways. Jesse Plemons, Jessie Buckley, Toni Colette, and David Thewlis in 'I'm Thinking of Ending Things' Mary Cybulski/NETFLIX ![]()
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