Review of I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020) by Allene — 08 Sep 2020

While it appeals to the intellect, it is most of all a cris de coeur for the misfits (Jud (Oklahoma!!), John Nash (A Beautiful Mind), Mabel (Gena Rowlands' character), the misfit girl at the HS and at Tulsey Town, the gays who are put down, and for Jake himself). It asks for sympathy for those trapped in their own heads, who have difficulty connecting with others. It also had brilliant insights into:

• how (selective and spotty) memory works (I especially loved the limited recollection of his dog, Jimmy).

• how time works ("People like to think of themselves as points moving through time. But I think it's the opposite: we're stationary -- time moves through us.").

• why we have hope ("Humans are the only animal that know the inevitability of their own death. Other animals live in the present. Humans cannot, so they invented hope.").

• the truth of the mind: "Sometimes the thought is closer to the truth than an action.".

• how art moves us ("it's like you wrote it [the poem] about me.") and "the interiority" of landscape paintings.

Almost every line of dialog - whether original or quoting others - is memorable. I also loved the suspense - the sense of impending doom. I especially liked the blizzard and the frozen lambs foreshadowing the suicide. I think it really helps to be familiar with the musical "Oklahoma!".

Like most of Charlie Kaufman's movies, the point of view shifts. Until the end, one is never certain whose eyes one is seeing it all through and when. But the actors are so committed that one is carried along.