Full of misgivings, a young woman travels with her new boyfriend to his parents' secluded farm. Upon arriving, she comes to question everything she thought she knew about him, and herself.Full of misgivings, a young woman travels with her new boyfriend to his parents' secluded farm. Upon arriving, she comes to question everything she thought she knew about him, and herself.Full of misgivings, a young woman travels with her new boyfriend to his parents' secluded farm. Upon arriving, she comes to question everything she thought she knew about him, and herself.
- Awards
- 15 wins & 107 nominations total
- Diner Manager
- (as Anthony Grasso)
- The Voice
- (voice)
- Dancing Janitor
- (as Fredrick E. Wodin)
- Diner Patron
- (uncredited)
- Audience Member
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
Since I've read the book, I knew what was going on. I also had no idea what was going on. Kaufman's adaptation was so bizarre and unforthcoming that it had me constantly checking how much time was left (too much was the answer)..
The first 20 something minutes are PAINFULLY slow, and the chemistry between the two main characters is so nonexistent yet they supposedly have this super deep connection. The character of Jake was so flat and mumbly - nothing like the sophisticated intellectual he was in the novel, but I tried to push that out of my mind. I was rapidly losing interest when the two finally arrived to Jake's parent's house, and there was a moment where I truly thought this movie was going to be incredible. Suddenly I was questioning what I was seeing, the unnervingly strange exchange between characters was unsettling and dread started creeping up in my chest. It stirred up the kind of uneasy feelings I got during my first viewing of Hereditary.
I'm a huge fan of strange movies that feel like a bad dream, not a nightmare necessarily, but a dream where things make sense but don't at the same time, and you have a pit in your stomach but don't know why. I like subtle strangeness, enough to pique your interest without beating you over the head with it. Unfortunately there quickly came a point when this movie catapulted over that fine line and became so frustratingly bizarre. It felt like it was trying to be Mulholland Drive. I am all for a strange trip of a movie but it has to be coherent enough to make sense in some way. If I didn't read the book I would have no idea what this movie meant or what was really happening, it just became too ridiculous for me to enjoy.
I presume people will talk about how bizarre it is on social media which will make people curious enough to watch it, but it was so unsatisfying and an overall waste of time.
Once you know you are going to see that, you won't feel cheated when finally starting to watch the movie and realizing it will not entertain you at all. Maybe it will make you ponder the nature of reality and inner life, maybe it will make you grab a gun and kill yourself or your parents, maybe it will make you write a dissertation on it, so other people get what you got or at least friends will honor you for surviving through it, but relaxing entertainment or any sort of pleasure that is not purely intellectual you will not get.
There are no twists at the end, the basic premise is made clear rather soon and from that moment you will wait for the film to end. There is no hero journey, no big reveal of information that will guide you through life, no story. The only beautiful thing in the movie is Jessie Buckley. So get into your Dostoyevski reading mood or whatever and only then attempt a viewing. Just trying on a whim and then complaining about it won't cut it. You have to work to see this film. Only when you're prepared to do that work will I recommend it to you.
Important note: this is not like watching David Lynch at his most weird, where the paranoia is genuine and tongue-in-cheek and the search for meaning a lost cause, but more like a deliberate attempt to confuse the viewer, by withholding information and concealing (WHY) a story that is actually there. And that just feels like vain self-indulgence
But the "spectacularly" in that sentence is not entirely about the failure... rather that he fails while presenting something rather spectacular. The film is gloriously beautiful in the way he brings symbolism and metaphor to life. It is gorgeously filmed and very well acted, although the pacing and editing could use a little less ego and a little more attention to flow. Other directors may have made some different choices in presenting those things that were more grounded in reality as opposed to those that were surreal. Instead, the whole thing was presented in such a state of hyperreality that finding the kernels of truth were impossible.
The biggest failures come in the stark omissions: Kaufman's refusal to share what question is being referred to in those phone calls where the disembodied voice says "there is only one question..." That question is critical and is specifically laid out in the book. It is the entire meaning and motivation. He also fails to ever tie back that question, and the titular phrase, to the only character to whom they actually matter. He also fails to show or explain explicitly what happened to that character in the end, and without that ending, there is no meaning. The film just becomes a very beautiful companion piece to the novel, highlighting some scenes and lending new imagery to them. It is not, in itself, a complete story. It's more of a "mood."
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to director Charlie Kaufman, Netflix pushed back against the film's 1.37:1 aspect ratio because they were concerned that viewers would think there was something wrong with their TV.
- GoofsWith the snow storm going on during most of his shift, the janitor would have had more of an accumulation of snow on his pickup than the amount (a little more than a dusting) that he quickly brushed off after his shift.
- Quotes
Young Woman: It's tragic how few people possess their souls before they die. Nothing is more rare in any man, says Emerson, than an act of his own. And it's quite true. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. That's an Oscar Wilde quote.
- Crazy creditsThere's a post-credits scene.
- SoundtracksPeabody's Improbable History
Written by Frank Comstock (as Frank G. Cornstock)
Courtesy of DreamWorks Animation
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Pienso en el final
- Filming locations
- Red Line Diner - 588 Route 9, Fishkill, New York, USA("movie in a movie" scene)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime2 hours 14 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1