Movie Thought

I've really enjoyed what I've seen from Charlie Kaufman which is admittedly just his 2015 stop-motion clay-mation wonder-piece (lotta hyphens here) Anomalisa  and what I would probably assume is his magnum opus, I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Both of these movies have stuck with me after watching them, which is very fortunate because immediately after watching both of them I said to myself (That was great, I never want to watch that again!" I won't overexplain this because I trust everyone has had this reaction to at least one thing or another in their lives. Kaufman's films are imaginative, masterful, compelling, but above all else, they are absolutely dreadful. His films do not make people fell good about themselves at all. And so I watched them, got the point, have continued to reflect on them, but ultimately moved on.

This is until I actually watched I'm Thinking of Ending Things again in 2023, except I didn't actually watch I'm Thinking of Ending Things. I actually watched a cheap imitation titled Beau is Afraid directed by Ari Aster. Okay, so calling Beaus is Afraid cheap is a bit misleading and certainly reductive. Beau is Afraid seems confident, looks clean, and has style and flair. However, where Kaufman's films compel, Aster repels with Beau. This film, made me feel anxious, gross, overwhelmed, confused, and generally just upset. Advocates of this film might jab their fingers aggressively at the screen while reading this going "But that's the point!" and to that I say, well duh. Of course that's the point. Counterpoint: Why does that make it good?

Seriously, just because a film has a direction and sticks to it means very little to me. There has to be more to it for it to work for me. I'm Thinking of Ending Things is in many ways the same breed of nightmarish fever dream as Beau is Afraid, but Kaufman uses that energy to create empathy