Reykjavík Grapevine - sep. 2020, Blaðsíða 29

I’m Thinkin! Of
Endin! Thin!s
A Movie Review With A Voice-Over
This article has spoilers. I think. Not
that it matters.
God, another existential navel-gaz-
ing movie from Charlie Kaufman. How
should I start?
Perhaps explaining the storyline. It
feels like it’s not gonna help anyone. I
felt simultaneously confused and in-
trigued while watching the film; not a
pleasant feeling, but I’ve felt worse.
The film centres around two char-
acters, Lucy, (which is probably not her
name) played by Jessie Buckley—I’m
fairly sure that’s her real name. I know
that because I looked it up, and it was
disappointing in a way. It doesn’t feel
important for the plot, the character’s
name that is.
Lucy has a boyfriend, and his name
is Jake, played by Jesse Plemons. They
drive through a snowstorm to visit
Jake's parents, but Lucy is thinking
of ending things. They have dated for
around six weeks. Or was it seven?
There is a snowstorm. And then there
are the parents, brilliantly portrayed
by Toni Collette and David Thewlis.
And their ages shift as the evening pro-
gresses. It probably means something;
it doesn’t feel important, either. Per-
haps I shouldn’t mention that I didn’t
really understand the importance of it.
This is how desperate we
have become
The movie is an adaptation of Cana-
dian writer Iain Reid’s 2016 novel 'I'm
Thinking of Ending Things'. That’s
basically why I’m writing this review;
because Iain is the brother of Iceland’s
First Lady and former Grapevine staff
writer Eliza Reid. This is what Iceland-
ers do; we claim talented people, even
if they're just innocent bystanders, or
siblings with no other connection to
Iceland. But, in our defence, Iain men-
tions Iceland in the book. This is how
desperate we have become. I should
definitely not mention that.
Misconceptions
I read the novel some years ago (in Ice-
landic) and I re-read it after I watched
the film (in English). The novel is still
great and surprisingly deep and pow-
erful. The strongest point is the elabo-
rated dialogue, the weak point is the
weird marketing scheme around the
book, where the publisher tried to sell
it as a thriller. It’s not. Not really. That
misconception still bothers me.
Superficial dialogues
Kaufman swaps out a lot of smart
dialogue from the book with his own.
Some of it is completely unbearable.
Conversations are so strained and su-
perficial that it occurred to me at one
point that maybe that was supposed
to be a joke in itself (it probably is). It
also occurred to me that these char-
acters were hollow idiots who have
locked themselves in some tormenting
intellectual mind-prison of loneliness
(which they have).
Too Cynical
The most dramatic point of the movie
is when my girlfriend fell asleep, right
before the end. Just minutes before the
odd dream-dance scene broke out with
some Oklahoma reference, in Jake’s
old high school. Her sleeping felt like a
judgemental comment about my taste
in movies. At the same time, I was glad
that she missed the dance scene. She’s
too cynical for stuff like that.
Strike this out
The plot twist is clear in the book, even
quite mind-blowing. In the movie, it’s
confusing. I have never seen Oklaho-
ma. I’m not even sure if anyone outside
of the US has any cultural understand-
ing of that play and the odd underlying
American myth it entails. Or if any-
body outside the US really cares.
This sounds too harsh and general-
izing. I should strike that out.
Better than 95%
In a way, it’s useless to compare the
movie to the book. I don’t know why
I keep doing it. Probably because the
ending of the book and the film are so
unlike. The movie doesn’t really work
because of its absurd ending, although
there are scenes in the movie that sug-
gest the ending of the book and there-
fore the plot of it all.
Jesus, how confusing does this have
to be? This is an awful review. I should
just tell people that I like the film, it’s
probably better than 95% of the stuff
I’ve seen this year. Then again, why
am I saying anything, I’m only a lucid
dream in Hannah Jane Cohen’s mind.
29The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 07— 2020
Words:
Valur Grettison
(or is it?)
Photos:
Film stills
Those Charlie Kaufman films, always a ray of sunshine
“The most dra-
matic points
of the movie
is when my
girlfriend fell
asleep”