Different filmmakers offer different experiences. The idea of exponential possibilities of storytelling are enforced by this concept. With Martin Scorsese, you get grit. With Steven Spielberg, you get optimism and adventure. And the list goes on and on. For Charlie Kaufman, you get existentialism. A cinematic questioning of your very existence and place in the world. Of your perception and your very reality. Throughout the years, Kaufman has time and time again explored such ideas with films like Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Synecdoche, New York, and, most recently, Anomalisa. While he mostly wrote the screenplays for these thought-provoking films (And I do mean a provoking dive into the meaning of a thought), it has always been his vision that drives these films. So few could tell the difference when, starting with Synecdoche, New York, he began to take the helm of his projects. And his newest film I'm Thinking of Ending Things, based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Iain Reid, carries on his universal themes with a nice horror twist.
The film focuses on a young woman named Cindy (Played by Jessie Buckley) who, despite second thoughts about their relationship, takes a road trip with her new boyfriend (Played by Jesse Plemons) to his family farm. But then, a snowstorm traps them there with Jake’s mother and father (Toni Collette, David Thewlis) and from there Cindy begins to question the nature of everything she knew or understood about her boyfriend, herself, and the world. As the first trailer indicates...Kaufman when put these thoughts on display in his usual mind-bending fashion:
I'm Thinking of Ending Things is set to land on Netflix on September 4th.