User Comments for I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Jordyep says...

4 years ago

Normally, I like Charlie Kaufman, but this is him at his most pretentious.
Not that it’s all bad, I actually liked most of the first long scene in the car.
It’s the kind of scene that will make many casual viewers dismiss the film right away (due to its length), but I thought it set up both of our leads very well.
Then they arrive at the parents’ house, and my opinion on the film did a 180.
It does what every annoying art movie does (not saying all art movies are like that, I like a lot of them): everything starts to get weird for the sake of trying to be interesting, but without any artistic reasoning.
For example, the acting becomes a nonsensical mix of very grounded performances (our leads) on one side, and extremely heightened, cartoony perfomances on the other side (the parents).
Also, the cinematography is pedestrian at best, and I fail to see the reasoning behind the chosen aspect ratio (unlike films like _The Lifghthouse_ or _Mommy_).
Just stick to writing, Charlie.

4/10

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Reply to Jordyep

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Reply by The_Argentinian

4 years ago

@jordyep the aspect ratio was chosen for the claustrophobic feeling. Did you really need to see the outside of the car? The house is small, so it worked there too.<br /> <br /> Also, "pretentious" as criticism is code for "I'm too stupid to get this. Why the filmmaker has to be ambitious instead of feeding me simple things?"

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Reply by Jordyep

4 years ago

@the_argentinian Get off your high horse. First of all, I’d advise you to watch _Mommy_, a film that used this aspect ratio for a majority of its scenes in order to create an actual feeling of claustrophobia when needed (so not for the entire movie, as that wouldn’t make sense, which is also the case here), and did it way more succesfully, I might add. Second, yes, I agree that some people pull out the ‘pretentious’ card too quickly, that doesn’t mean that such a thing doesn’t exist. Believe it or not, but some people do actually get what the film is trying to convey, they just don’t like how it’s being done. That doesn’t make them stupid. To me, the definition of stupid comes closer to people who write smug, pseudo intellectual comments in poor English.

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Reply by The_Argentinian

4 years ago

@jordyep no, the definition of stupid comes closer to people who criticize other's people second language while they don't even bother to learn their first. <br /> Also, people who say shit like this "everything starts to get weird for the sake of trying to be interesting, but without any artistic reasoning. " Maybe you should stick to Netflix teen comedies.

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Reply by Jordyep

4 years ago

@the_argentinian I hope you realize that English isn’t my first language either? That’s something a smart person would’ve checked on my profile before writing such an embarrassing comment. Setting that aside, what I’m saying is: if you want to be smug, that’s fine, but at least make sure you articulate yourself eloquently. Don’t come with a ‘stick to teen comedies on Netflix’ attitude when you can’t even argue your own points thoroughly, or even properly for that matter. Until then, this conversation is done.

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Reply by ShrimpBoatSteve

4 years ago

@jordyep Remember that having a different opinion now is equivalent to being a Nazi! I agree with your sentiment and the pretentious arty crowd who look down on those that do not like a film and therefore 'are stupid' wears thin here. Unfortunately, Kaufman has a cult of believers and can do no wrong in their eyes. I enjoyed the film for about 90 minutes and then grew bored of the continuous attempts to announce 'do you see how clever I am? .. do you understand?' Yes, it was fairly obvious after 60 minutes it was all in Jakes head, now get over it.

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User Comments for: I'm Thinking of Ending Things

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