I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman, 2020) Movie • Page 10

In the book, there are those interludes of dialogue in which people do confirm that he was intelligent and did work in a lab. No real reason for them to be lying. In the movie, I don't think so. IMO he's obviously a "smart" guy judging by all of the heady conversations he makes up with the YW, but that doesn't make him interesting or likable to be around.

 

varying reception aside, imagine this being the point at which you become annoyed at the movie lmao. seems willful at that point

 

I think it was also probably a call back in his own mind to a time when someone who's writing he respected trashed an opinion he had on a movie he connected with and made him feel maybe less intelligent than he thought he was.

I think that stuff is in the book from what I've heard. The film makes it seem like he probably wasn't that gifted but liked to think of himself as such which is why he's defensive when his mother is talking about his intelligence as a kid.

 

Also highly recommend A Woman Under the Influence if you haven't seen it, ha.

 

who could have predicted this outcome

 

Jessie Buckley appreciation:

I love the dude at :38 looks like "shit this is real"

 

This but Hayley Williams

 

I went in cold and felt like I had a handle on the movie pretty quickly, which surprised me tbh. Not all of the imagery and symbolism but a bulk of the foundation. I liked it.

 

I picked up very similar notes on my first viewing.

 

Dug this overall, the only place it lost me was most of the drive from parents house to the school, but otherwise I was all aboard

 

Was super excited for this as the book is a favorite of mine. Damn, I was sooo disappointed. I felt like they took all of the creepy parts of the book and basically glazed over or just omitted them. The school scene in the book was so suspenseful. But instead, it became a dance and song... I get artistic control but I did not understand why they chose the direction they did with the movie.

 

While watching this I thought "I would probably find this more engaging in a novel format than as a film," so it's weird seeing polarizing reactions from people who have read the book

 

Taking in context of Kaufman's canon, it makes sense that he'd take it in a different direction than the book. "Adaptation" partially adapted "The Orchid Thief" while also wildly deviating it with the twin brothers story.

 

Seen this for the first time without reading the book last night and I still can't stop thinking about it. His films really have a way of getting under my skin

 

The women of Charlie Kaufman

 

Finally watched it last night. I think he would have cut down both car scenes it would have been a much stronger film. I felt like there wasn't any of those conversations that really added to the characters (real or not).

If those were edited tighter I think the overall feel of the movie would have delivered better. Didn't hate it or love it overall.

 

I think they added a lot to the characters and the themes the film was exploring about people living their own lives through the art of others or using the discussion/sharing of art to express themselves.

 

The car scenes might be my favorite parts of this honestly. The house stuff is obviously great, but those two car scenes and YW’s inner monologue was so compelling

 

Maybe cutting down but...I think editing them tighter would not have made them as effective.

 

Ian Reid is a family friend so I was really excited to watch this and see how they were able to adapt the book. I can see how it's so polarizing. As soon as it ended my girlfriend said it was the worst thing she's ever seen lol. I can't say I loved it, but it was really captivating the whole time. The ending really threw me for a loop. If I hadn't read the book I'm sure I would have been pretty confused.

Check out Ian's other book "Foe". I think it's even better and hope they make it into a movie one day too! Edit: I see it already has a deal :)

 

Wonder what he thinks about Charlie’s interpretation of his work! I’m sure he’s honored a person of Kaufman’s stature took on the material, but certain liberties must be interesting from the perspective of the original creator.

 

I don't know him personally to be able to ask unfortunately. I think he worked pretty closely with it though. He's listed as a co-producer on it (I don't know if that's standard procedure for authors when their books are adapted to film though).

That's a question you can ask any author though. I'm sure some love how their stories turned out on screen while others are disgusted and everything in between.

At the end of the day I'm sure he's got a nice cheque in his pocket and it's going to make way more people read the book so I'm sure he's pretty happy.

 

Grabbing the book from the library this week to speed through before I watch the movie.

 

Girlfriend and I just read the book today (hooray shorter novels!) and we're watching tonight. I have so much curiosity how this is gonna play out on screen.

For book readers, this is a cool link (and was advertised on the author flap of the hardcover book). ALL THE SPOILERS IN THE WORLD!!!

I'm Thinking of Ending Things

 

This is a tough one. The initial impulse is to dismiss the premise, but there is so much care there.