Treasure or trash: you be the judge

 Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things (on Netflix), is the latest mind bender from perhaps the most eccentric director working in Hollywood, Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, 1999; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Synecdoche, New York 2008)). Based on Canadian novelist Iain Reid’s novel, the story, on its surface, is simple. A couple, new in their romance, is driving along a country road to a farmhouse where she (Jessie Buckley) will meet his - Jake’s (Jesse Plemons) - parents. It’s winter and a snowstorm is brewing. The film’s title refers to the main character, the woman – who goes by various names – seeking an end to their still newish relationship. But she tells herself it’s easier to just go along. This is one of several oblique commentaries throughout the film on the compromises one makes in conventional life. As the drive continues the two people strain at conversation. Various topics, like Hollywood musicals and poetry, spark an outpouring of knowledge from Jake. And then she recites one of her brilliant poems, a deep esoteric dive. Arriving at the farmhouse, several oddities occur. There are frozen dead animals. And the couple suffer a prolonged wait for Jake’s parents (Toni Collette and David Thewlis). Now we’ve entered Stephen King territory. Mom and dad, with bizarre facial expressions and awkward poses, talk in abrupt or extended sentences. As the night wares on - no, your eyes aren’t deceiving you – we start seeing mom and dad at different ages. These dissociated images match the young woman’s questionable identity – is she a poet, a student of quantum physics, an amazing surrealistic painter? The couple then drive home. They stop, bizarrely, at an ice cream parlor, located in the frozen tundra. Then they pull up at Jake’s old high school. There, the janitor, an aged version of Jake, eventually doffs his clothes and ends up following an erudite-speaking pig down a hallway. At this point - or actually some time before – you might ask: has the filmmaker lost his mind or am I losing mine? This is the kind of film, folks, you’re either going to love or hate. Or, charitably – which is how I view it - at least think worth dissecting for symbol and thought associations, dreams, aging, and the nature of life itself.