Have done maybe too many movie reviews in this blog series to be taken seriously as an author, but I have one more. Last night I watched the new Netflix movie I’m Thinking of Ending Things based on a novel of the same name by Canadian Iain Reid.
The novel is less than five years old and by a writer who is younger than I am. I agree with more than one critic who has said that much of the dialogue (which there is a lot of) sounds like the dormitory-hall conversation of a possibly pretentious college. The plot of the movie version, penned by Charlie Kaufman of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation fame (I saw but somehow didn’t like his Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), was confusing to me and consciously absurd. I had to read some explanations online after my viewing to understand it, if I do now.
I won’t ruin the ending if you haven’t seen it, but there is a big reveal at the end (that you too may need help from critics to understand) that overturns much of what you have experienced earlier in the story. The theme of the movie fascinated me more maybe when I was a proverbial angry, young man. And it is a real theme in many people’s lives but not one I want to dwell on at this point. So I don’t think I will watch this movie again or read the novel.
Happy Labor Day weekend and thank you for whatever work you do.