by Don Hall

Like kimchi, sardines, and pork rinds, the artistic creations of Charlie Kaufman are a limited and acquired taste. Almost obnoxiously cerebral and labyrinthian, Kaufman simply sees the world from an odd, dreamlike place that either you dig soaking in or are completely alienated in the experience.

A puppeteer discovers a portal that leads literally into the head of movie star John Malkovich. A woman is in love with a man in love with another woman, and all three have designs on a young man raised as an ape. A lovelorn screenwriter becomes desperate as he tries and fails to adapt 'The Orchid Thief' by Susan Orlean for the screen. 

An adaptation of the cult memoir of game show impresario Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell), in which he purports to have been a C.I.A. hitman. When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories. A theatre director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he creates a life-size replica of New York City inside a warehouse as part of his new play. 

After his children's science show is canceled, Goodman Hesselman tries to start over with a new show in a little TV market - also a portal to the supernatural world.

Kaufman is, as they say, out there, man.

I thoroughly enjoy Kaufman the way hardcore devotees of Wes Anderson dig his fey whimsy. I could watch “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” or “Being John Malkovich” at the drop of a hat without a second to reflect on the fact that I’ve seen them enough to quote favorite moments.

Perhaps I’m so drawn to his work in part because of my time with WNEP Theater in Chicago. In the 90’s we created shows under the guise of “What No One Else Produces” and put out a series of plays and improvisations that defied conventional (and commercial) wisdom.

“Phobia” was a faux lecture on overcoming phobias lead by an instructor terrified of public speaking that devolved into chaos leaving the audience out on the street. “Leopold” was a mishmash sketch comedy show that included Abraham Lincoln in a theater box whose only responsibility was to laugh hysterically throughout. “Postmortem” had a cast of improvisers play out a person’s life, from birth to death, using only the information in a recent obituary.

“Invasion of the Minnesota Normals” was a take on “Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf” intersecting with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. “Metaluna and the Amazing Science of the Mind Revue” introduced Berlin Dadaist anti-performers to 1921 vaudeville audiences in Indiana. “...apocalypse...” supposed that Jesus Christ refused to play along with his second coming and instead get a job as a bartender and featured Jack Chick as a side character.

WNEP Theater was, as they say, out there. I think Kaufman would’ve fit right in.

“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is the most Charlie Kaufman film in his canon.

From IMDB — “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.” 

This doesn’t even come close, brother. There is the intercutting of the trip with scenes of a lonely school janitor. A story of a maggot-infested pig. The brilliant Toni Collette and David Thewlis as the parents aging and de-aging in every scene. The monologue in the car that is a word-for-word ape of Pauline Kael’s review of John Cassavetes's “A Woman Under the Influence”. A dream ballet.

Like a dream or a nightmare or both unfolding in non-linear time, this movie is a puzzle box that reveals very little until it reveals everything. Frustrating, fascinating, haunting, and often beautiful, Kaufman pushes his audience to just relax and wade around in his brain soup until he releases them. Is the Young Woman (Jessie Buckley) the protagonist? Is Jake? She’s an artist but of work she sees in his parent’s basement and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of Broadway musicals but fixates on “Oklahoma.” The janitor is obviously lonely but what the fuck is he doing here?

At two and a half hours, Kaufman layers more weirdness than most viewers will have patience for. We are, after all, in the Marvel age and tolerance for a slower pace and long, intriguing monologues aren’t in our wheelhouse anymore. That said, if you are parting, if you lay back and take in each moment without the need to figure it out the reward is there, just at the end. Kaufman wants you to see where he’s going but not easily because easy solutions are for the feeble-minded.

Jesse Plemons (Jake) is one of those character actors you’ve seen in a dozen movies of a dozen genres: “The Irishman,” “Game Night,” the captain of a bizarre Enterprise in an episode of “Black Mirror,” “Battleship,” and “The Master.” This fucker is all over the place and he is fully in charge of his performance in “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.” He is matched note for note by Buckley and having the ridiculously talented Toni Collette in anything makes it exponentially better for her presence.

This is a frustrating ride in the dark of a snowy night but worth every second.