It's alright, a little stressed out. My psych prof is a total wanker and it got me heated this morning. But I don't plan on letting that chump ruin my day. One of my favorite RUclipsrs dropped a video a minute ago, so things are looking up I'd say! Thanks for asking Karsten, how you doin?
They way they shot the movie was so claustrophobic. The girl was always trapped between door frames or between people. It really added to the creep factor.
The sound design achieved this too in my opinion. The sound of the windshield wipers, the wind, the uncomfortable interruptions throughout dialogue. All of it added to the sense of confinement in a beautifully and creepy way
Me too. I'm not one to shy watching artsy, deep, cryptic movies but this one is almost unbearable. I know there are hidden meaning in small details but there are also tons within the movie that I think is unecessary and it just made the movie sooool long.
yo same i was not about it. like i picked up on it i understand its a complex movie w a lot to put together ... but i dont care... i am tired and will not watch again
Kinda hurts that this is such a common reaction (me included) which it catered towards making it slightly more palatable... Which I've never said about a film before.
When I watched the trailer for the movie I automatically thought of suicide, then I went and read the book and thought "oh, it's about a break up" and then in the ending I was "oh, this indeed was about suicide"
Well, it can mean both things actually. It can mean the the janitor is thinking if ending things. And in the literal sense as Lucy mentioned she wanted to end things, meaning breakup with Jake. But the 2nd meaning is also very dark. We know Jake is fantasizing about Lucy but even in his dreams or fantasizes, the girl wants to end things with him. And that is so much sad when you re-watch it. Even in his fantasies, he can't control the thoughts of the girl as she wants end things with him and thus it means that even though she is a part of him but she also has her own thoughts and identify. She is so fully formed that Jake, even in his mind, has given her a separate 'voice'.
@@amanjaiswal9389 yeah, totally, it's a double meaning, and a way to deceive the viewer with the title, I saw it mostly as the character of Jake reflecting on his life, regrets, choices and insecurities, it really hit me close xd, how he could perceive himself as smart but in a condescending way, his view on relationshis and people in general, how Jake couldn't maintain an active social life and the guilt of never accomplishing something meaningful, and never living up to his or what he thought were other people's expectations
There's a quote in the first half of the movie that I think is very important, that describes pretty well what the janitor is going through, and that sort of goes in line with your conclusion: "Even fake, crappy movie ideas want to live. Like, they grow in your brain, replacing real ideas. That's what makes them dangerous."
Sort of reminds me of how i watched high school musical as a kid and idealized that growing up and went to high school and it was the most excruciating years of my life instead
People complain about how long the movie is, but I think that's the point. It's a slow burn of a stream of consciousness. Jake is thinking of ending things.
it scares me how much relate to the janitor. i’ve been using maladaptive daydreaming as a coping mechanism for my anxiety and depression for the past few months bc of quarantine. i’ve created a whole alternate reality where i’m an idealized version of myself: attractive, talented, has a loving boyfriend, parents who like each other, a caring brother, a friend group i can actually fit in with, it’s getting sad. i’ve made memories with these people in my brain and all i’ve been doing for the past 6 months is replaying these over and over again bc it makes me the tiniest bit happy and thats the only thing making me get out of bed in the morning. there’s no more motion in my life bc i’ve been stuck in this imaginary fantasy i’ve created just bc i was bored. i should be jotting this down in my journal rather than making a youtube comment about this... but hopefully someone can relate lol
i struggle with maladaptive daydreaming too and i find it really helps to try grounding yourself in this reality through things like meditation and hobbies :)
You said it well. This film is a horrifying reflection on choosing maladaptive daydreaming above existing grounded in a discomforting reality. Won't get into the weeds, but I've spent the past several years of my life imagining some other, more attractive existence. As the years compound, it gets worse... becomes cyclical. You'll have regrets for the years lost. You'll almost forget that most people live lives, instead of imagining them. You'll maybe fall behind on responsibilities, connections, ambitions. And, that will only cause you to sink further into the idealistic, chronically distracting fantasies. It becomes too tragic to think that dream world is unobtainable to you, since it can feel so close. I can't imagine what decades of this would do... but the janitor certainly represents that missed opportunity. If I had any advice, it would be to latch onto any HOPE. Even if it feels naïve sometimes. And, how do you do that? Stay active, or get active. Can't find fulfilling work? Volunteer. Too depressed to go out that day? Message a friend you can trust. Go for a short walk around the block if at all possible. Probably stay away from weed. And, try to get on a regular sleeping schedule. Just some thoughts.
The scene where they're driving after they get ice cream has some of the creepiest sound design I've ever heard and it really put me on edge. Don't know if I'm glad i watched this with headphones or if I deeply regret watching it with headphones
Watching this on a Tv screen I could barely hear the sound design. With just constant soft wind blowing noises filling up the silence, but that in itself basically acted as silence. Making it so all the scenes where character weren’t talking extremely uncomfortable. This movie was soemthing else.
omg yes. the odd gasping/breathing sound effect to intensify the scenes, then random cries from a baby in the distance, some jet ? or planes flying above, and a distant emergency siren- those were the ones i caught
@@mrkt-legends yoooo I didm't hear those weird sound effects even though I was on headphones but during the last quarter I was constantly checking if there was someone in the room as well that's crazy
In the very beginning on my first viewing, I was thinking “I bet she’s an old woman with dementia, imaging all this happening.” And then the movie progressed and I was like ok not that. The ending happened, and I wrote down a few pages of my thoughts. The next day when discussing the movie with my mom I realized the actual meaning of the ending and what happened, then we watched it again that next day. It’s such a good movie. One thing I realized on the first viewing is that she’s like a real life personification of the Tulsi Town clown on the bag, with the red curly hair
Good point about the clown. Jake seemed to have an affinity for clowns. He said at one point the Tulsi Town jingle always made him emotional. There was a Tulsi Town bag in the old Jake's pick up truck. And there's a clown doll or puppet in his bedroom. I was wondering why the girl started off looking like Ronald McDonald's sister. Makes sense.
Did you watch the movie? They make it pretty clear that the movie is inside of Jakes head. The first 10-15 minutes of them showing the old janitor and the Oklahoma dance scene gives it away that it’s not about her
Except that, near the end of the film he repeatedly asked her what she was thinking. He could no longer hear her because she was becoming independent from him. Now that's a strange scenario...
I enjoyed how confusing it was tbh. It was fun trying to figure it out but honestly I had to look up "I'm Thinking of Ending Things' explained" videos after watching it to really get it 😅
Connor O'Reilly Says who? Is a poem that’s initially confusing a bad poem? I don’t think art needs to be immediately clear or even immediately enjoyable. Sure, many people prefer to consume and move on, but that doesn’t mean that’s the best way to do things.
Even reading a summary or watching an analytical video is a substitute for one’s own patience and analysis, for conversation. So they aren’t necessary, just a way to quicken the digestion of dense material.
Jake's paintings are not actually the ones the young woman claims to be hers, the painting she shows to Jake's parents are from an artist called Ralph Albert Blakelock, Jake probably based his own paintings on Blakelock's style.
@@gabrielborjas7923 Beneath the paintings on the basement's wall you can see Blakelock's name. The ones that actually have Jake's signature are just an attempt at copying them, pretty much like everything in Jake's life tbh, I feel like he projects other people's success onto himself because of how mediocre he is, it's really sad. At least that's my interpretation of it.
@@gemsbyjackie5479 That's probably my favorite aspect about the movie, in the book Jake is kinda of a genius and that's why he can't connect with others, on the other hand, the film portrays Jake as an average person, which is a lot more effective and scary imo since most of us are condemned to mediocrity too.
@@bernardolima3788 I agree, I think he's also fantasizing about being a genius as to find a reason for why he's so alone. They also talk about how mothers are blamed when their kids turn out "bad", and these two intertwine when the mom keeps going on about how he was such a genius when he was a child. He's desperately trying to find something to blame. I feel like "Lucy" going into the basement, seeing his mediocre paintings along with his work uniform, and also her going against his freudian view was also like a breaking point for him and the reason this was his last fantasy before ending things, realising the harsh reality of life and that no one else is to blame for his mediocracy and how his life turned out.
I HATE people that HATE other people. I get a lot of HATE comments on my amazing videos and I HATE it. Please don't spread HATE. Do I have to HATE you too, dear mas
@@JennaLovesPickles28 TBF i imagine about 2% of people actually saw it, lots of people will write a negative review just to feel part of something. Apparently the trailer presented the movie very poorly. I mean it's based off the directors actual childhood, these fucked up shit happen in real life, look at american child beauty pageants
well a lot of these people either studied film or philosophy or psychology at uni. so they have a background and are familiar with this type of thinking. it’s nearly impossible to pull an analysis out of thin air with no prior experience looking at symbols or themes. don’t feel dumb, just keep learning and thinking critically!
It was like dreaming. No idea whats goin on but it kinda makes sense if you dont think too hard. Give yourself more credit, you understood it but didnt form it into words. Also im 3 years in the future!! Muwahaha
I noticed that when Watching it for the second time- how it was bright orange and then became purple, yellow and eventually grayish blue sort of color..
There’s a theme in the movie as well that humans fight to live despite having no real reason to believe life has an intrinsic meaning or value. Continuously, when Jake is asked to go home he says “to the farm?” And every time something comes up that stops him from going home. It’s like his own inner mind is fighting the face that his life does have to end, as well as the fantasy.
Even the first time, I was just fascinated and, even after thinking it was boring at the start, the changes in the characters, the odd details that sprung up every now and then, made me want to keep watching. Even after my first viewing, I liked this movie.
Yeah definitely, I almost always give movies that I like/appreciate in an artistic manner a second viewing, so. I can try to pick up in every little thing the director/cinematographer want us to pick up on, but THIS fucking movie, man...it was WELL worth it. 100%. It honestly almost felt like I was watching an entirelh different movie altogether! It was an amazing experience for me.
@@Ragnaroswar yeah I liked it the first time I watched it too, only I found it very confusing and thought the ending was not so great. The second time I watched it it resonated with me a lot more and I thought the ending was really powerful
The fact that, during thr dinner scene, they pass around the food as ìf they were about to eat it- and the young woman says "That was lovely" before clearing the table- feeds the aura of unnatural surrealism that the first act of the film has.
i’m not sure what it means but at the end of the film when the janitor is talking to the pig i found it extremely comforting, especially after being so on edge for the entirety of the film
It seems comforting but imho its one of the most depressing parts of the movie. Throughout the film he makes reference time and time again to how so much of what we experience is just fabrications of our mind, as a coping mechanism to make his fantasies seem more grounded. So in the end he is unable to let go of his ambitions and dreams and refuses to face his lonely, meaningless death to the very end, deceiving himself with one last "it all ends happily ever after" to try and grasp some small semblance of purpose from his life, turning his back on true, final acceptance and lucidity.
As someone diagnosed witch psychotic disorder and schizoid disorder, the movie has even more messages about the mind and how it works, the couple in the car is a perfect representation of a brain or mind being trapped inside a body, the girl being the right hemisphere of the brain (sitting on the right seat in the car, the right hemisphere is the one responsible for spatial perception, creativity, , imagination, emotion, sensibility to art, senses) and the driver being jake sitting on the left (left hemisphere is the one in control of the car, who decides action, realism, reasoning, analysis, knowledge, memory, language, time perception and logic). It pictures the conflict between both hemisphere of the brain when both cease to work together as a "couple". For example when the woman sees something odds or starts to imagine stuff jake is there to give her rational interpretation. When she doesnt remember thing jake is there to remind her. On the other hand when jake talks about arts or try to explain something he like the girl corrects him because she is the one having the emotional and art sensibility but also the skill to interpret implicit and underlying meaning. It shows that when both hemisphere cease or has difficulty to connect, communicate and collaborate each other, the mind starts to dive into insanity. When jake dies, the janitor starts to hallucinate because jake was the one trying to make sense and sorting all the information communicated by the right hemisphere imagining and interpreting informations.
I think Janitor wanted to end things because of failures he went through life. He was interested in Quantum Physics and wanted to win the Nobel Prize. Wanted a partner in his life. But at the end he turned up into a janitor, lonely with no one in his life. I think he defined his life on some things but failure to achieve those things led him to wonder who he even is without those things and thereby causing an existential crisis. At the end he accepted he cannot achieve his dreams anymore and he was happy that he tried but him being alive or dead don't matter anymore, hence he ended things
Why do I feel like I'm going to end exactly like this? Relatively intelligent, dreaming of a life where I could've been someone, until I realise at the end that I wasted it by never really achieving anything. I also never felt more related to a fictional character than the main character in Synecdoche.
Jake wanted to be Lucy. Quantum physicist, artist, poet, intelligent, had a girlfriend. But even she wanted to end things with Jake. Even his dream wanted to leave him and he was trying to convince it to stay, trying not to face reality. He gave up on himself i guess.
Watched the film for the first time last night. Today I thought about this and then started wondering if this was intentional in the casting. I bet it was.
The repetition of things like words and ice cream made a lot of sense after picking up on the fantasy of the surface plot. It’s literally like when you are fantasizing and you don’t like how it’s going or what is said so you repeat it a couple times before your brain lets you change it. At least that’s how it is for me.
Not everyone is like Jake. Some people, even in this age where it's basically impossible to, do have an original thought or idea. To say that "thinking" is the "real" horror of the film is somewhat shortsighted, as it is very possible to face your truths head on and not end up like Jake. I'd say the horror is Jake's life story, and it's a scary tale about what happens at the end of a life without purpose. That's the shit that keeps me up at night right now. Then again, you could be 100% right and I could be a dumbass, so whatever! My own personal views shape my viewing experience, as I'm sure it did yours. And I didn't catch on to the food symbolism, so thanks for that!
Exactly what I was thinking. Why do you think old Jake has these fantasies in the first place? It reminds me of the scene in Inception where Ken Watanabe talks about living to become an old man, only full of regret.
I think a big part of jake ending up like he did is his own self conciousness. He is so insecure of himself so in his fantasy he is portrayed as a bad partner (and also in the dance scene, he thinks of himself as disgusting and evil) but when the girl speaks to the janitor at the end of the movie he seems very kind. Idk if i'm making sense here but i agree with you, i think jake ended up like he did because of thinking so low of himself, it's all about the circumstances
@@DasRaetsel Because he is lonely and has no one else in his life anymore. I'd like to assume that he's been having these for an extremely long time with how the mother is portrayed, keeping him trapped in his self destructive mentality, which is real at the very least from Jake's perspective. And I think this movie displays what would happen if Leonardo DiCaprio didn't trust Ken Watanabe at all and decided to not follow through with trying to get his kids back, leaving him hollow and empty (although I don't think he would kill himself.)
yeah i agree that the movie portrays the hell life can become. watching it i couldn’t help but feel angry at kaufman, that he’d take such a cynical view to life, until i realized jake and “young woman’s” stories can be warnings instead of prophecies, that it truly is up to the watcher to decide to go down that path of self pity and cynicism and nihilism.
exactly! this is a self reflection of someone with so much regret and insecurity that it tips the scales into depression, especially in the old age when you know life has passed you by. it's scary, but we all have a piece of this kind of darkness in us. however what gives meaning to human life is mostly relationships, as cliché as it may sound. jake seems like a man who spent his entire life lonely and feeling isolated and to me his story feels like a warning rather than a cynical constatation of the world and society. it doesn't have to be this way.
Having just watched it, I totally agree. About a third of the way through (expecting it to be an existential romp a la Kaufman) I actually exclaimed out loud (to myself, for I live alone, but was it to myself, and did I say it or was it my fantasy avatar??) ‘Oh, this is a horror film!’ It also reminded me more of Lynch at his horroriest (thinking Inland Empire probs the scariest thing I’ve ever seen) than of anything Kaufman. I have no problem with that at all.
I can usually get through movies regardless of how slow or dark they are, but this one really shook me in the wrong way. I stopped about thirty minutes in. Something seemed so off it kinda made me sick.
The movie is filled with things such as subtle change of clothing which your brain will unconsciously pick up on even if you don't notice it and it makes you feel uneasy like something is off but you don't know what xd my friend who is a very sensitive person found it too off putting and also couldn't watch it before nothing even had really happened
matti tatti also I noticed that there wasn’t music playing in the background most of the time and it was just them talking and the wind. We’re not used to hearing or seeing the type of stuff we saw/heard in this movie. It was great
yess I feel you. I also stopped for a minute after like 30 minutes in, but then kept going because I really wanted to watch Karsten’s review afterwards and it was so worth it!
I think we are supposed to know it's in his head early on. He knows all these musicals because the kids inevitably put on the plays, we see the janitor intercut with the plot and when a conversation takes a turn that frustrates him the whole point she is making or views she holds change. Her clothes and ideas and skills all shift with a line of thinking akin to lucid dreaming where some details don't matter but it's still the same general story. I think we get his memories and line of thinking and the only thing that could cloud that, maybe make it confusing, would be the fact it's from her perspective. If she wasn't the narrator it might be clearer but he can read her thoughts so it still fits, it's just a way to have her think the darker thoughts about himself like how the meeting at a trivia night could pressure a girl and he's that man. His fantasy is self aware and questions him, why he knows a service road to a school that houses so many districts or even how she knows the girl serving ice cream. The choices made make it seem, to me, to be set up for inference from the beginning, even if the viewer isn't certain. I don't think it is meant to be a twist but maybe a long grown reveal of what we should know anyways.
He knows all the musicals because the kids put on display. What does that mean? I think there are these hints throughout the movie but to say we were supposed to know from the beginning is an exaggeration.
*Spoiler Below* : ..... In the book, it’s a twist ending because we find out literally they are the same person... the narrator/janitor. She tells him I want to end things and so he does, resulting in taking his own life. Imo I think she represents not only a character for the janitor to contextually visualize for fantasy and/or romantic hopeless longing, but also to represent the cluelessness or innocence one has when looking back on their past and/or past traumas. Shit, even in the book, it’s noted he has schizophrenia and even the movie adds that clue with the one line the mother says with the Tinnitus and the Yule Log. I believe in the film it’s also exhibited in the dad with his ‘forehead band-aid’, him always looking confusedly up and rubbing his head, and the eventual dementia he has. I think Karsten missed that analysis too imo because it isn’t necessarily about the young woman’s escape, I believe; it’s more of his own wanting to escape and his innocence/“unknowningness” of furthermore wanting to escape his reality and the choices he made... I think the fantasy is more of a “what if”, perhaps, that gets wrapped into existential horror and fantasy because life is full and complex of the warping of the dream, the reality, and the in-between in all angles and sides of our existence. I think that’s why people do have higher power beliefs because something has to be out there in human life despite our existence having moments or periods that can be dreary, or redundant, and/or harsh (especially (probably from an existential or even awareness level) when it feels human life doesn’t necessarily have to be. Great film, greater book.
Luca laurin exactly. Not to mention that maybe he was an admirer of musical theatre in his younger days? And assuming from his dad’s patronizing of Visual Art/General Art in the dinner scene, I think that represents his suppression of the true art he maybe wanted to express. Not to mention, stereotypically, families who farm seem to be very traditional and conservative so Visual Art? Maybe... but Theatre?? Oh hell no, “too gay”. Even the quote of Freud and the couple trying to assert that they have no qualms about homosexuality make me feel as if maybe he’s homosexual himself? Or on the spectrum and rustling with his liking for men? Especially since we see him express his own thoughts as female (but I think thematically speaking that showcases how we are all one in the same on a wider scale than what the specific main character is going through) Not saying you have to be gay to be involved, appreciate, or like Musical Theatre, but 1) everything in this film and book has a meaning even when it seems meaningless and 2) in my own experience, I’ve seen men battle with those confines of sexuality in terms of what does it mean to be a man in theatre but also with men struggling with being involved with entertainment in general and ALSO possibly being a closeted gay man or actually being a closeted gay man (I.e. Rumors of most of the golden age male actors like Marlon Brando or James Dean, Rumors of John Travolta and Tom Cruise, Rumors of possible Gay Rappers like P Diddy, Young Thug, or Tyler the Creator. Not to mention true and real happenstance with Kevin Spacey (🤢), Ezra Miller, Bodybuilder Bob Paris, Anderson Cooper, Ellen Degeneres, Robin Roberts, Ricky Martin, George Michael, etc. etc. etc..) So I personally think, from two shots in the movie (the 80s hallway scenes), that he enjoyed musical theatre in his younger days but was ashamed of it in a way and had no real access to displaying that passion he had for it, so movies (and science because all things are creative of human invention and human discovery) were the next escape.
The repeated "I'm thinking of ending things" whisper seemed to me like the thought creeping back into his mind. Every time we heard it, Jake switched the subject or tried to move on with the fantasy. Every time we think something we don't want to think, we try to change it quickly. Whether it be through our fantasies or onto another "regular" thought. Every time that thought of "should I end my life?" popped up, he tried to hide it. But as time went on, as he continued with his fantasy, his mind deteriorated. It grew harder and harder for him to put that thought away. Just like it says in the book and the movie, "I’m thinking of ending things. Once this thought arrives, it stays. It sticks, lingers, dominates. There’s not much I can do about it, trust me. It doesn’t go away. It’s there whether I like it or not. It’s there when I eat when I go to bed. It’s there when I sleep. It’s there when I wake up. It’s always there. Always." Charlie somehow captured the mind descending into torture and nothing. No fantasy could cover up the feelings of loneliness and depression. To be able to capture that is both terrifying and beautiful.
it's represented by these unanswered calls she keeps on ignoring. it's his self-destructive side that she won't address, because she's a parasitic figment of his imagination which "wants" to keep on consuming him. this part of his self-hood (ipseity) doesn't want to acknowledge his impending demise. note how his remembered/imagined parents - the other part of his subconsciousness - INSIST that she takes the call, even explicitly stating it could be an emergency: - You should take it. We won't think it rude. - No, it's OK. It's not important. - You don't know. It might be. It's a blizzard out there. - She might be stranded. - It's OK. which would be rather weird in real life, because there's absolutely no reason why she wouldn't pick up. but they are the parts of his imagination that represent the memory of real (if difficult) love he'd received in his life. whereas she represents fictional love, which provides him with validation he - an underachiever - is longing for. "Like that's my purpose in all this, in life. To approve of Jake, to keep him going. She's smart, she's talented, she's sensitive. She can do this, she knows about that, she made this, she cares about that" - it's her thoughts (talking about herself in third person, of course) right before the camera cuts to him taking his senile father to the bathroom. he prefers love that validates him over love that has to be returned.
This reminds me of a book called The Bone Clocks written by David Mitchell. It’s almost like there are two parts to the book, the first time you read it is the first part and the second time you read it is the second part.
I don’t even feel like the movie was much of a horror. It was advertised as that but it’s more of an existential horror with a bit of a comedic element. Maybe it’s cause I have dark humor but there’s kind of a dark humorous feeling with a lot of Kaufman’s movies. It’s more evident in the earlier stuff but there’s hints of it in synecdoche and Anomalisa.
I don't think it was advertised as a horror at all. I feel like it was advertised as another quirky indie drama. I was surprised at how scary I found the film honestly, but I agree it was hilarious in parts too.
@@gabrielborjas7923 Mmm the last half of the trailer definitely has a horror/thriller vibe to it with the music and toni's cackling but the first half in my mind has a weird quirky vibe to it more then a scary one. I don't know personally I just wasn't expecting something scary going into this
I haven't seen it a second time yet, but the first time I thought the scenes at the farm were the scariest part. The mom and dad acted so unnatural and weird and I could feel the tension and the emotions that Jessie felt. Especially when she went to the laindry room and when she found all the all the paintings and realized they were not hers.
I kinda interpreted it as the janitor (jake) has Alzheimers and is imagining the whole scenario with the road trip with his gf to his parents. Which to me explained all the weird time changes, aging characters, the sudden appearance of the dog (because he was reminded of it), the father having Alzheimers being a metaphor for himself etc. so the concept of time in the film to me was that he often doesn’t remember how old he is or how old the people around him is. The terrifying aspect of the film to me was that the perspective of Jessie Buckley’s character in the house was like a terrifying interpretation of how someone with Alzheimer’s night feel
Yes, exactly how I interpreted the movie as well. The confusion, the musical Memories but can’t place face and names and the distorted timelines felt so frighteningly how I would imagine Alzheimer’s feels like ☹️
Brilliant, you’ve helped me clarify a thought! I too thought that old Jake had Alzheimer’s. Most interpretations have the Lucy character merely as a representation of the ‘dream girl(s)’ he couldn’t attain in real life, but I wondered why so much was from her perspective. Also, it allows Jake to see unpleasant things he’s repressed from another point of view (his discomfort with his mother’s timidity/ignorance: etc., dad’s ugly toes just for e.g . As well as the true revelations of his lack of genus - i.e. the rubbish paintings buried in the basement). The other thing that bothered me was the getting naked bit - at the time of watching it seemed he was ripping his clothes of as if he was too hot, as someone with extreme hypothermia might. Perhaps lost (in his mind) and confused he’d been sitting in that truck in the snow for hours or even days?? Anyway, more food for thought, thanks!
That’s how I interpret it as well. There are many subtle but also explicit allusions to dementia/alzheimers. My theory is, that Jake’s condition serves as a depiction of all kinds of mental/cognitive illnesses and I think it makes sense that Alzheimers is the one condition that can represent all at once. I believe that the parents are representations of the symptoms Jake suffers from, and the TT girls personify society’s lack of understanding and how it stigmatizes people with mental and cognitive disorders. The girl with the rashes represents people like Jake, who miss or lose chances in life due to how they are perceived through their appearance (physical/mental), also the small part of society that really cares. Although the movie is more than ambiguous, I think that it depicts the invisible struggle and suffering of (aging) people, how neglect (I’m pretty certain that Jakes mother plays an important role in this, every reaction and utterance to/about his mother could be a clue, also the ending scene, mother on the stage, father in the audience, supporting parent), and society’s ignorance. But this is only a small percentage of interpretation. There is so much more purpose behind the movie.
It’s actually creepy how similar they are, both are the dying delusions of a lonely man who’s life was shaped by stories and media because he couldn’t get over his own demons and make human connections, so they’re constantly trying to live out things that can never exist.
I loved that you brought up the concept of the fantasy's self-awareness since I haven't really seen other reviewers talk about it and it's one of the first things I realized after finishing the novel and movie.
This film deeply resonated with me albeit it being weird, spooky and confusing at times. Recently having a loved one pass away, many thoughts, feelings and questions I have about death, time and grief were reflected in the film. It was surprising. Great art is like a mirror sometimes. If I watched this film a year ago or even a month ago, it would've impressed me but not have an affect on me.
I've read the book twice in the last two years and wrote a small review on it. The book pretty much books down to being an extended suicide note written on the concepts of loneliness and wishing he had done more. Jake is suffering and has been for many years, but always failed to make connections, which make him simmer on the question of, without people, or friends, or connections, what is left to ground us in this world when things get bad? The question 'what are you waiting for' repeats and becomes a mantra against his better judgement, leading to the horrible decision. That said, I'm glad to see extra and expanded upon ideas for the movie. It sounds like a hell of a ride
I think it was moreso his dreams that killed him. Loneliness is bearable for someone who accepts it, but he simply couldn't, dreaming constantly of finding artistic or scientific success and above all love, and in doing so spent his life in unfulfilled misery
Getting married doesn't mean anything. Hell, 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, these are horrible odds, yet people keep gambling. Having a partner is different from signing a piece of paper.
This!!!!! The sudden turn for violence it takes in the end!! The way the 'young women' and the mother share their weird laughing styles and if you've read the book you can tell that the young women starts acting more and more like who Jake actually is rather than who Jake thinks the young women is supposed to
I love how the fantasy of Jake speaking through Jessie Buckley was almost like a continuation of Synechdoche, NY's idea of reconciling the masculine and feminine aspects of your personality. Escaping into another person, specifically a woman's voice is always a reoccurring theme of Kaufman that I enjoy to see
Also, did you notice when we are first getting introduced to the protagonist and we see them in the car within the opening moments that they are not wearing seat belts in the car?
Mine is extreme case of maladaptive daydreaming and for years has been my coping mechanism, i realised much later that all I was fantasizing was family which understands me and friends who get me, because I didn't have that in real life, but it's sad, it's not gonna work, I was losing my mind, connections, and ambition, at sometime we have to stop or else it'll consume us and keep us depressed forever,
This movie is wild. After a second viewing, you realize that his parents and how weird they are is actually how they think about thim! However, I do believe that he actually saw the girlfriend in real life but never approached her to talk to her. It's indicated in the beginning of the film when the janitor sees her from the window!
I didn’t watch this movie alone, and so we were trying our best to analyze every part of this movie. By the end, I felt as though I had understood it (personally I interpreted it as a man with Alzheimer’s final moments, with the young woman being a representation of his friends, loves, and just a general manifestation of his insecurity being that all he accomplished was being a janitor) but I was exhausted. I’m not sure I would have completed it were it not for me being with people. The movie was so so good and had excellent pay off, cinematography, sets, and editing and I’m so glad I stuck through to the very end. Everything felt off, yet in a way that made it come together. By the trailer, I was expecting something more along the lines of the Shining’s horror, but this really is in a category all it’s own.
@@ivancorredera4241 that's what I thought you meant! I've been so curious about Everywhere at the End of Time but I've been too intimidated to listen to it. You make me want to even more
palbo4 it’s quite depressing if you understand the context. The artist spent three years utilizing old retro ball music, distorting it and remixing to craft a music piece that is meant to demonstrate the effects of dementia, slowly not being able to remember certain memories, ending in your character slowly dissolving into a husk, an empty shell unable to remember the past. I wonder if Kaufman listened to it.
@@ivancorredera4241 yeah, that sounds devastating and extremely unique. Really does sound like it has similar themes to those movies, I feel like I have to listen to this. Do you have to listen to the whole thing in one sitting or is it still effective if you listen to just certain parts of it at a time?
I just realized that this film includes three actors from the excellent FARGO TV series. Jesse Plemmons, David Thewlis and Jessie Buckley from seasons 2, 3 and 4 respectively. Awesome.
Her real name is maggot. That's the metaphor. She's an obsession consuming him from within, borne out of his isolation and regret. It's not by coincidence that once they finally meet (the old, real janitor, not his imaginary younger self), she is HIDING. "He finally managed to move one [pig[, and discovered... its entire underside was filled with maggots" - remember? And it's not by coincidence that when she's hiding, he finds her sitting ON THE FLOOR. A bizarre choice. Why would the director have someone sit down when hiding? You'd normally stand up; your frame is somewhat more narrow then. But maggots can't stand up. You find them underneath stuff. That's also why he's following the pig at the end of the movie. "Someone has to be a pig infested with maggots, right?" - the pigs asks him. And goes on: "It might as well be you" - the pig is obviously not talking about itself here, but about Jake. "It's the luck of the draw", the pig adds (the exact same phrase his mum used in reference to Jake, praising his talents) Jake is infested (psychologically, of course). A maggot is not an evil creature though. "Everything wants to live, Jake. [...] Even fake, crappy movie ideas want to live. Like, they grow in your brain, replacing real ideas." She's a dream - an idea (also a movie idea, as she's partially inspired by a rom-com he watched) that's borderline self-conscious, eating him from within, and ultimately killing. Another clue is the fact that she's got no appetite throughout the entire movie. She refuses a snack on the way to his parents. She barely touches the ice cream on the way back. Why? Because she's a maggot. She's got no appetite for snacks or ice cream. She's eating HIM. This notion of eating an alive sentient being is signalled by that scene from that movie within a movie, the romantic comedy. Of all the subjects they might have gone for, the waitress is vegan: "And she realized that a hamburger is just a ground-up cow." And how does his mum encourage her to eat? "All homemade. Everything you see on the table is from the farm." Well; Jake grew up on the farm. And she did as well - "I grew up on a farm", she exclaims when they're arguing before they arrive at the school. Of course a maggot did. And if you think that's a stretch - fine. But as they invite her for dinner, his dad explicitly compares food to a body ("all the food will be as cold as a witch's tit"). It doesn't happen once, but twice. The second time it gets as close to spelling the idea out as possible. Remember the chocolate cake (which looks very unappetizing, to be fair)? How is she encouraged to eat the cake - "Chocolate yule log [...] Reminds me of when Jake used to suck his thumb [...] Yule log. Kinda looks like thumb!" What a bizarre thing to say. (And how the hell does it look like a thumb anyway :) ). But again not a coincidence. She eats the cake when it's likened to Jake's body. "your eyes have become a hunger. You come home with your mutant gifts to a house of bone. Everything you see now, all of it... bone." "It's like you wrote it about me", he says, and it is about self-consumption (in my opinion), but it's her - the parasitic figment of his imagination - that presents it as her poem to him. "Perhaps the real maggots were the friends we imagined along the way", huh? : )
If I hadn't known that the novel was from two years after Philip Seymour Hoffman died, I would have been sure the character of Jack was written for him exactly.
Honestly Jesse Plemons does look a lot like PSH. Similar eyes, build and demeanor in performances. I know he gets compared to Matt Damon (Meth Damon and Fat Damon were some of his nicknames during Breaking Bad), but he is comparable to PSH in my mind.
it's not only a fantasy, it's inner moving of the janitor. through fictional girl he tries to find a way to love himself and his life, which is represented by young jake and the memories. she never really succeeds but just trying=existing makes her the reason that keeps the janitor going. that's why she's the main character. she keeps the fantasy=film going. if she decided to end relationship to young jake, it would basically mean a loss of hope and ending of janitor's life. but most importantly, i think that all the parts of the story are neither fantasies, memories, impressions, thoughts or feelings. It's all of it at once and that's what makes the film so touching. one's psyche is much more complicated than words to describe it. everything in this movie is only Jake himself. the point of it is to make us feel completely like him - alone, confused, depressed. the point of that is to confront us with the deepest existential fears we all share. and making us do so is very, very noble. true art
One of my biggest fears is things not making sense and during this film everything changed. Like how they met and though I know that was on purpose it drove me mad.
This movie was great, I got misty eyed during the part when the girl was talking to the old janitor telling him that their interaction didn’t matter to her. It was like he formulated all of these fake ideas about her in his mind for his whole life, and nothing even existed. He didn’t even exist in her mind. Then, the part when the pig animation was leading him was symbolizing him being led into the afterlife. Not sure how that is how others interpreted that part, but that is how I saw that
I think I enjoy this movie more than Synecdoche New York tbh. The way Kaufman burrows into my brain and digs out all of these anxieties just to put them back on the screen with relatable yet dark characters is astounding.
@@geniusonyeo the movie jaws back in the day caused a 'shark panic' where people suddenly thought sharks were these super dangerous swimmer killing machines and i think more sharks were killed so i guess marco wants to say that this movie vilified mental illness and made it look bad like that though i don't think i agree
@@Fuckyourselfgoogle i think it's more just an inside joke; a youtuber (YourMovieSucks) did a video where he mentioned how dumb it was that trailer and DVD cover featured reviews often compared scary movies to Jaws
The ending was utterly sad and you definitely can relate to the janitor, in the human sense. Sometimes you get caught up in your thoughts and daydreams and realize a lot of your life isn’t what you imagined it would turn out to be. He ended up totally unsatisfied with his life but trying to relive what seemed to have been his constant wishful dreams one last time. As spectators, we are caught in his last one, his last trip through an imagined memory lane. Obviously, the end sums up his last wish, to no longer wish. :(
I watched this weeks ago and it’s the middle of the night. I can’t get it out of my brain. Something possessed me to look this up and I knew there would be lots of video essays about it. Watching them helps me get them out of my brain thankfully, god speed!
you should check out the caretakers "everything at the end of time stages 1-6 complete" now its a couple of albums not a movie, but i think it would play with your feelings of time and memory pretty well!
Yes! I couldn't help but think about it while I was watching the movie haha. Though (if he gets to read our comments) you should know the whole project is 6 hours long, but it's totally worth it
the premise "the scariest thing to be is alive" makes me think of Beau is Afraid. I think that movie does a fantastic job of demonstrating how terrifying it is to exist and to experience existential dread, anxiety, fear, and everything else that comes with the human condition.
I'm still depressed from watching this movie when it first came out. Its so good but so depressing. People who call this movie boring are expecting a thriller/horror but its simply poetic.
Love this review so much, it put into words so many things that I had been thinking about the film but wasn’t able to articulate! Small nitpick but I think it’s interesting, her paintings weren’t actually Jake’s paintings, they were the Blakelock paintings on the posters and you can see that Jake’s paintings on the floor were mediocre attempts to copy Blakelock’s style of landscape painting.
Fun fact: I had literally watched a woman under the influence the night before, which kiiiinda fucked my brain up when she went on a full rant about the movie I just saw
Wow. I love it when new light is shed on my favorite movies. You brought up some themes in this video that I had failed to notice. Thank you for making me see this film through a different pair of glasses. It makes rewatches way more interesting.
Really great work! Easily my favorite of the year so far. I love how it’s read differently by everyone that I’ve read/talked to about it. There is a line after the Young Woman’s poem about returning home where Jake is taken aback by how personal the poem felt to him, as if she wrote it for him. And I think this film accomplishes that really well. Everyone I’ve talked to has found ways to see their own personal fears in this story, feeding there own unique interpretations. Really cool stuff. This is a paragraph from my review that sums up my take. “-We follow Jake on an unreliable journey through his own life, through the eyes of a Young Woman. Who is she? Simply put, she isn’t. A figment of Jakes imagination built from the images and personalities of former partners. Maybe one was an English major, maybe a painter, a quantum physicist, or a gerontologist. Whoever ‘she’ was or is, Jake sees her as an observer. Someone he let into varying aspects of his life. Maybe he regrets that, maybe he doesn’t. But it still bothers him. Jake is bothered by a lot of things actually. The death of a childhood pet, his flaws, his failed intellectual and artistic endeavors, the deterioration of his parents. Things that still haunt him into his old age, eating away at him like maggots. Haunting him to such an extent he eventually follows them to his death. He reaches for pieces of his childhood on his way out, an ice cream or a jingle he held onto for as long as he could remember but it’s futile. He has been there many times before. Life’s biggest questions and confusions remain in answered and unresolved. But as he stands on a stage accepting an award of his own invention, he finds peace.”
Honestly, that was my take on it as well. One can never know if they're entirely right about a piece like this, but reading your comment at least let's me know I wasn't alone in my analysis of it. I think you put it more eloquently than I could, though 🙂
this movie fucked with my emotions so deep within the first few minutes that i actually stopped watching and decided to read the book first. it hasn’t gotten here yet but i’m very excited to read and watch and then come back to this video
When I saw the movie I couldn't help but think of both Mirror by Takovsky and Barton Fink by the Coen brothers: Mirror, because of the way it treats the concept of time, and Barton Fink, because of the way it treats the concept of a character inside the other character's head.
I reviewed this on my channel and I’ve come to the conclusion that I am shit at everything and that I mean nothing to the world Also my fav movie of the year
About that media part... im not saying that it does not affect us BUT people seems to forget or dont know that sometimes our thought is just a thought - we dont have to believe in it or act upon it
He had dementia. It was so obvious to me from when faces started looking weird. The horror of i’m thinking of ending things is living with dementia and many regrets.
how’s your day going?
Excelente
Pretty good! I mean, I have a Karstin video on my birthday. So, yeah, it’s pretty good!
Just watched Uncut Gems for the first time
Light as air
It's alright, a little stressed out. My psych prof is a total wanker and it got me heated this morning. But I don't plan on letting that chump ruin my day. One of my favorite RUclipsrs dropped a video a minute ago, so things are looking up I'd say! Thanks for asking Karsten, how you doin?
Pretty great
They way they shot the movie was so claustrophobic. The girl was always trapped between door frames or between people. It really added to the creep factor.
leydi w The square aspect ratio makes it feel so cramped!
Yeah, my God I was, please tell him you have to go home!! It was suffocating 😢
door frames... more like windshield
@@RotchildFrancoisJr it also makes the frames look like one of the paintings, isolated lonely sad claustrophobic or one of those other things you said
The sound design achieved this too in my opinion. The sound of the windshield wipers, the wind, the uncomfortable interruptions throughout dialogue. All of it added to the sense of confinement in a beautifully and creepy way
This movie took me so long to watch, like, it felt like double the time of the movie. At the end, I was exhausted.
sameeeee it felt like it was never gonna end lol
Me too. I'm not one to shy watching artsy, deep, cryptic movies but this one is almost unbearable. I know there are hidden meaning in small details but there are also tons within the movie that I think is unecessary and it just made the movie sooool long.
sim sim SIM!
yo same i was not about it. like i picked up on it i understand its a complex movie w a lot to put together ... but i dont care... i am tired and will not watch again
Kinda hurts that this is such a common reaction (me included) which it catered towards making it slightly more palatable... Which I've never said about a film before.
i watched this last night and i thought i was watching someone’s nightmare. every time i thought i knew where it was going i was taken somewhere else.
It was actually your own nightmare.
Perfectly describing my experience
And in the end the last frame is the saddest of the movie, even though there is no one feeling sad for us to feel that
Ouch haha
Like y’a pfp g 👀
@@StrawberryFeildsforNever Ay, mi corazón
@@StrawberryFeildsforNever thanks
but there's a dead guy, you don't see him but you know, without this knowledge, just the picture wouldn't be sad
I always thought of "I’m thinking of ending things" as her saying she wants to die not break up so I’m glad you mentioned it
same
When I watched the trailer for the movie I automatically thought of suicide, then I went and read the book and thought "oh, it's about a break up" and then in the ending I was "oh, this indeed was about suicide"
Well, it can mean both things actually. It can mean the the janitor is thinking if ending things. And in the literal sense as Lucy mentioned she wanted to end things, meaning breakup with Jake. But the 2nd meaning is also very dark. We know Jake is fantasizing about Lucy but even in his dreams or fantasizes, the girl wants to end things with him. And that is so much sad when you re-watch it. Even in his fantasies, he can't control the thoughts of the girl as she wants end things with him and thus it means that even though she is a part of him but she also has her own thoughts and identify. She is so fully formed that Jake, even in his mind, has given her a separate 'voice'.
@@amanjaiswal9389 yeah, totally, it's a double meaning, and a way to deceive the viewer with the title, I saw it mostly as the character of Jake reflecting on his life, regrets, choices and insecurities, it really hit me close xd, how he could perceive himself as smart but in a condescending way, his view on relationshis and people in general, how Jake couldn't maintain an active social life and the guilt of never accomplishing something meaningful, and never living up to his or what he thought were other people's expectations
Same
There's a quote in the first half of the movie that I think is very important, that describes pretty well what the janitor is going through, and that sort of goes in line with your conclusion:
"Even fake, crappy movie ideas want to live. Like, they grow in your brain, replacing real ideas. That's what makes them dangerous."
Ooooooh!
Sort of reminds me of how i watched high school musical as a kid and idealized that growing up and went to high school and it was the most excruciating years of my life instead
People complain about how long the movie is, but I think that's the point. It's a slow burn of a stream of consciousness. Jake is thinking of ending things.
it scares me how much relate to the janitor. i’ve been using maladaptive daydreaming as a coping mechanism for my anxiety and depression for the past few months bc of quarantine. i’ve created a whole alternate reality where i’m an idealized version of myself: attractive, talented, has a loving boyfriend, parents who like each other, a caring brother, a friend group i can actually fit in with, it’s getting sad. i’ve made memories with these people in my brain and all i’ve been doing for the past 6 months is replaying these over and over again bc it makes me the tiniest bit happy and thats the only thing making me get out of bed in the morning. there’s no more motion in my life bc i’ve been stuck in this imaginary fantasy i’ve created just bc i was bored.
i should be jotting this down in my journal rather than making a youtube comment about this... but hopefully someone can relate lol
I can. I’ve been losing hope in life ngl. I keep going tho, I don’t know why but I just feel like I should even though nothing gets better.
Meditation may help you, but it'll take practice
i struggle with maladaptive daydreaming too and i find it really helps to try grounding yourself in this reality through things like meditation and hobbies :)
You said it well. This film is a horrifying reflection on choosing maladaptive daydreaming above existing grounded in a discomforting reality. Won't get into the weeds, but I've spent the past several years of my life imagining some other, more attractive existence. As the years compound, it gets worse... becomes cyclical.
You'll have regrets for the years lost. You'll almost forget that most people live lives, instead of imagining them. You'll maybe fall behind on responsibilities, connections, ambitions. And, that will only cause you to sink further into the idealistic, chronically distracting fantasies. It becomes too tragic to think that dream world is unobtainable to you, since it can feel so close. I can't imagine what decades of this would do... but the janitor certainly represents that missed opportunity.
If I had any advice, it would be to latch onto any HOPE. Even if it feels naïve sometimes. And, how do you do that? Stay active, or get active. Can't find fulfilling work? Volunteer. Too depressed to go out that day? Message a friend you can trust. Go for a short walk around the block if at all possible. Probably stay away from weed. And, try to get on a regular sleeping schedule. Just some thoughts.
ever played omori?
The scene where they're driving after they get ice cream has some of the creepiest sound design I've ever heard and it really put me on edge. Don't know if I'm glad i watched this with headphones or if I deeply regret watching it with headphones
oh I stopped watching with headphones like 30 minutes in, it was unbearable lol
Watching this on a Tv screen I could barely hear the sound design. With just constant soft wind blowing noises filling up the silence, but that in itself basically acted as silence. Making it so all the scenes where character weren’t talking extremely uncomfortable. This movie was soemthing else.
omg yes. the odd gasping/breathing sound effect to intensify the scenes, then random cries from a baby in the distance, some jet ? or planes flying above, and a distant emergency siren- those were the ones i caught
STRONGLY agree. Silent, dark room + HiFi Headphones + the repeating exhale/ wind combo had me checking if someone else was in the room.
@@mrkt-legends yoooo I didm't hear those weird sound effects even though I was on headphones but during the last quarter I was constantly checking if there was someone in the room as well that's crazy
“Time is a tool to put on the wall, or wear it on your wrist, the past is far behind us, the future doesn’t exist”
I quote this ALL THE TIME and it’s so fitting here lmao
Anytime people starts talking about time I think about that song lol
*rizd
Why did I read it in my head in the same Kadenz and tone as the original 💀
Wow
In the very beginning on my first viewing, I was thinking “I bet she’s an old woman with dementia, imaging all this happening.” And then the movie progressed and I was like ok not that. The ending happened, and I wrote down a few pages of my thoughts. The next day when discussing the movie with my mom I realized the actual meaning of the ending and what happened, then we watched it again that next day. It’s such a good movie. One thing I realized on the first viewing is that she’s like a real life personification of the Tulsi Town clown on the bag, with the red curly hair
Oooooh, nice! Didn't notice that
Good point about the clown. Jake seemed to have an affinity for clowns. He said at one point the Tulsi Town jingle always made him emotional. There was a Tulsi Town bag in the old Jake's pick up truck. And there's a clown doll or puppet in his bedroom. I was wondering why the girl started off looking like Ronald McDonald's sister. Makes sense.
Did you watch the movie? They make it pretty clear that the movie is inside of Jakes head. The first 10-15 minutes of them showing the old janitor and the Oklahoma dance scene gives it away that it’s not about her
The best thing about the movie was the girl was thinking and her boyfriend could hear everything. What a strange scenario.
I think since the girl is made up by jake he can manipulate her since he has control of it since it’s a dream or a figment of his imagination
Couldn’t stop thinking of Fleabag, but the interruptions in that were for way different reasons.
Except that, near the end of the film he repeatedly asked her what she was thinking. He could no longer hear her because she was becoming independent from him. Now that's a strange scenario...
Honestly, the movie was confusing to watch, but after I read the plot summary of the book it all made sense
You should read the whole book, it's pretty great!
I enjoyed how confusing it was tbh. It was fun trying to figure it out but honestly I had to look up "I'm Thinking of Ending Things' explained" videos after watching it to really get it 😅
Not a good sign for a movie
Connor O'Reilly Says who? Is a poem that’s initially confusing a bad poem?
I don’t think art needs to be immediately clear or even immediately enjoyable.
Sure, many people prefer to consume and move on, but that doesn’t mean that’s the best way to do things.
Even reading a summary or watching an analytical video is a substitute for one’s own patience and analysis, for conversation. So they aren’t necessary, just a way to quicken the digestion of dense material.
I liked this movie but at Around the hour and a half mark my brain just overloaded and I couldn’t understand what was happening
same here
Me too I couldn't keep going it was hurting my head.
yeah same, but honestly at that point I just went with the flow of the film, and by the end I loved how extremely weird it made me feel😅
It took me three days to watch it
same, but it was fun trying to figure it out lol
Jake's paintings are not actually the ones the young woman claims to be hers, the painting she shows to Jake's parents are from an artist called Ralph Albert Blakelock, Jake probably based his own paintings on Blakelock's style.
Wait, what? How do you know that
@@gabrielborjas7923 Beneath the paintings on the basement's wall you can see Blakelock's name. The ones that actually have Jake's signature are just an attempt at copying them, pretty much like everything in Jake's life tbh, I feel like he projects other people's success onto himself because of how mediocre he is, it's really sad. At least that's my interpretation of it.
@@bernardolima3788 I felt this too but you put it into words better than I could.
@@gemsbyjackie5479 That's probably my favorite aspect about the movie, in the book Jake is kinda of a genius and that's why he can't connect with others, on the other hand, the film portrays Jake as an average person, which is a lot more effective and scary imo since most of us are condemned to mediocrity too.
@@bernardolima3788 I agree, I think he's also fantasizing about being a genius as to find a reason for why he's so alone. They also talk about how mothers are blamed when their kids turn out "bad", and these two intertwine when the mom keeps going on about how he was such a genius when he was a child. He's desperately trying to find something to blame. I feel like "Lucy" going into the basement, seeing his mediocre paintings along with his work uniform, and also her going against his freudian view was also like a breaking point for him and the reason this was his last fantasy before ending things, realising the harsh reality of life and that no one else is to blame for his mediocracy and how his life turned out.
Netflix is the Russian roulette for when it comes to quality. For every “I’m thinking about ending things.” There’s a “Cuties.”
I heard cuties wasn’t that bad tho
I HATE people that HATE other people. I get a lot of HATE comments on my amazing videos and I HATE it. Please don't spread HATE. Do I have to HATE you too, dear mas
Luke Donovan check the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, I think you’ll see that most people don’t accept sexualizing children in a film.
@@JennaLovesPickles28 TBF i imagine about 2% of people actually saw it, lots of people will write a negative review just to feel part of something. Apparently the trailer presented the movie very poorly. I mean it's based off the directors actual childhood, these fucked up shit happen in real life, look at american child beauty pageants
@@JennaLovesPickles28 imagine thinking rotten tomatoes is a reliable source of showing how good a movie is
I have never been so anxious to get an imaginary girl home in time!
Its a movie about how inceldom will make you rope and kill yourself. When even imaginary girls reject you then it never began for you.
I got chills when Jessie Buckley eyeballed the camera in the car. Loved this movie, and loved this analysis Karsten!
Me too!! So well done, god i loved this film haha
i thought i was seeing things
What, when did that happen? I need to watch it again
@@OptikOfficial just from remembering I think its pretty soon after they finally get back in the car when leaving the house, I could be wrong though 😁
@@OptikOfficial Off the top of my head I want to say it was towards the end of her monologue critiquing the film 'A Woman Under the Influence'
I feel really dumb seeing all these analysis videos by youtube's while I just didn't have a clue about what was actually going on...
bruh me too
lol same, I got it all wrong
well a lot of these people either studied film or philosophy or psychology at uni. so they have a background and are familiar with this type of thinking. it’s nearly impossible to pull an analysis out of thin air with no prior experience looking at symbols or themes. don’t feel dumb, just keep learning and thinking critically!
It was like dreaming. No idea whats goin on but it kinda makes sense if you dont think too hard. Give yourself more credit, you understood it but didnt form it into words. Also im 3 years in the future!! Muwahaha
Honestly the movie was unnecessarily complicated.
The way how I didn’t notice her clothes changing color till she went into the school 😭
the way I didn’t notice until I read your comment 🤯
@@ezra6094 lmao same
I’m so proud of myself for noticing the first time it happened haha
and not only in the school, constantly in the movie she changes accesories, color, hairstyles
I noticed that when Watching it for the second time- how it was bright orange and then became purple, yellow and eventually grayish blue sort of color..
Hey Karsten, do the ranking of Barbie movies please
please
wait he actually is on letterboxd now what
Princess and the pauper is top tier next to the My Scene Barbie franchise
What have you done
If Princess and the Papuer doesn't top the list and 12 dancing princesses isn't close behind then Karsten is cancelled.
There’s a theme in the movie as well that humans fight to live despite having no real reason to believe life has an intrinsic meaning or value. Continuously, when Jake is asked to go home he says “to the farm?” And every time something comes up that stops him from going home. It’s like his own inner mind is fighting the face that his life does have to end, as well as the fantasy.
Imagine viewing a sponsor right after your perspective on existence and thinking things has completely been altered
I've watched the film three times already and one thing for sure, is Jessie Buckley is amazing in this. also read the book, it is worth it.
should I read the book if I’ve already seen the film??
Blue and purple yes! It’s an entirely different experience. When I first watched the film, I thought it was going to be scarier.
Watching the movie I kept thinking "Man, MC is a great actress!"
But I could never put a finger on why her performance was so amazing.
toni collette, too!
Thewlis and Plemons are fantastic as well!
This movie is way better after a second viewing
Penis?
Even the first time, I was just fascinated and, even after thinking it was boring at the start, the changes in the characters, the odd details that sprung up every now and then, made me want to keep watching. Even after my first viewing, I liked this movie.
Yeah definitely, I almost always give movies that I like/appreciate in an artistic manner a second viewing, so. I can try to pick up in every little thing the director/cinematographer want us to pick up on, but THIS fucking movie, man...it was WELL worth it. 100%. It honestly almost felt like I was watching an entirelh different movie altogether! It was an amazing experience for me.
@@Ragnaroswar yeah I liked it the first time I watched it too, only I found it very confusing and thought the ending was not so great. The second time I watched it it resonated with me a lot more and I thought the ending was really powerful
Jared Hernandez I loved how I sat there for a whole hour thinking of what I saw and coming up with my own explanations!
The fact that, during thr dinner scene, they pass around the food as ìf they were about to eat it- and the young woman says "That was lovely" before clearing the table- feeds the aura of unnatural surrealism that the first act of the film has.
i’m not sure what it means but at the end of the film when the janitor is talking to the pig i found it extremely comforting, especially after being so on edge for the entirety of the film
That was probably him coming to terms with things
It seems comforting but imho its one of the most depressing parts of the movie. Throughout the film he makes reference time and time again to how so much of what we experience is just fabrications of our mind, as a coping mechanism to make his fantasies seem more grounded. So in the end he is unable to let go of his ambitions and dreams and refuses to face his lonely, meaningless death to the very end, deceiving himself with one last "it all ends happily ever after" to try and grasp some small semblance of purpose from his life, turning his back on true, final acceptance and lucidity.
As someone diagnosed witch psychotic disorder and schizoid disorder, the movie has even more messages about the mind and how it works, the couple in the car is a perfect representation of a brain or mind being trapped inside a body, the girl being the right hemisphere of the brain (sitting on the right seat in the car, the right hemisphere is the one responsible for spatial perception, creativity, , imagination, emotion, sensibility to art, senses) and the driver being jake sitting on the left (left hemisphere is the one in control of the car, who decides action, realism, reasoning, analysis, knowledge, memory, language, time perception and logic). It pictures the conflict between both hemisphere of the brain when both cease to work together as a "couple". For example when the woman sees something odds or starts to imagine stuff jake is there to give her rational interpretation. When she doesnt remember thing jake is there to remind her. On the other hand when jake talks about arts or try to explain something he like the girl corrects him because she is the one having the emotional and art sensibility but also the skill to interpret implicit and underlying meaning. It shows that when both hemisphere cease or has difficulty to connect, communicate and collaborate each other, the mind starts to dive into insanity. When jake dies, the janitor starts to hallucinate because jake was the one trying to make sense and sorting all the information communicated by the right hemisphere imagining and interpreting informations.
I think Janitor wanted to end things because of failures he went through life. He was interested in Quantum Physics and wanted to win the Nobel Prize. Wanted a partner in his life. But at the end he turned up into a janitor, lonely with no one in his life. I think he defined his life on some things but failure to achieve those things led him to wonder who he even is without those things and thereby causing an existential crisis. At the end he accepted he cannot achieve his dreams anymore and he was happy that he tried but him being alive or dead don't matter anymore, hence he ended things
Why do I feel like I'm going to end exactly like this? Relatively intelligent, dreaming of a life where I could've been someone, until I realise at the end that I wasted it by never really achieving anything. I also never felt more related to a fictional character than the main character in Synecdoche.
Jake wanted to be Lucy. Quantum physicist, artist, poet, intelligent, had a girlfriend. But even she wanted to end things with Jake. Even his dream wanted to leave him and he was trying to convince it to stay, trying not to face reality. He gave up on himself i guess.
I love that the lead actors' names are homonyms. I think it really fits the themes of the movie :)
Watched the film for the first time last night. Today I thought about this and then started wondering if this was intentional in the casting. I bet it was.
The repetition of things like words and ice cream made a lot of sense after picking up on the fantasy of the surface plot. It’s literally like when you are fantasizing and you don’t like how it’s going or what is said so you repeat it a couple times before your brain lets you change it. At least that’s how it is for me.
can you explain the ice cream reference to me?
this movie is literally how my dreams look and play out it felt like I was just watching one of my nightmares
Not everyone is like Jake. Some people, even in this age where it's basically impossible to, do have an original thought or idea. To say that "thinking" is the "real" horror of the film is somewhat shortsighted, as it is very possible to face your truths head on and not end up like Jake. I'd say the horror is Jake's life story, and it's a scary tale about what happens at the end of a life without purpose. That's the shit that keeps me up at night right now. Then again, you could be 100% right and I could be a dumbass, so whatever! My own personal views shape my viewing experience, as I'm sure it did yours. And I didn't catch on to the food symbolism, so thanks for that!
Exactly what I was thinking. Why do you think old Jake has these fantasies in the first place?
It reminds me of the scene in Inception where Ken Watanabe talks about living to become an old man, only full of regret.
I think a big part of jake ending up like he did is his own self conciousness. He is so insecure of himself so in his fantasy he is portrayed as a bad partner (and also in the dance scene, he thinks of himself as disgusting and evil) but when the girl speaks to the janitor at the end of the movie he seems very kind. Idk if i'm making sense here but i agree with you, i think jake ended up like he did because of thinking so low of himself, it's all about the circumstances
@@DasRaetsel Because he is lonely and has no one else in his life anymore. I'd like to assume that he's been having these for an extremely long time with how the mother is portrayed, keeping him trapped in his self destructive mentality, which is real at the very least from Jake's perspective.
And I think this movie displays what would happen if Leonardo DiCaprio didn't trust Ken Watanabe at all and decided to not follow through with trying to get his kids back, leaving him hollow and empty (although I don't think he would kill himself.)
yeah i agree that the movie portrays the hell life can become. watching it i couldn’t help but feel angry at kaufman, that he’d take such a cynical view to life, until i realized jake and “young woman’s” stories can be warnings instead of prophecies, that it truly is up to the watcher to decide to go down that path of self pity and cynicism and nihilism.
exactly! this is a self reflection of someone with so much regret and insecurity that it tips the scales into depression, especially in the old age when you know life has passed you by. it's scary, but we all have a piece of this kind of darkness in us. however what gives meaning to human life is mostly relationships, as cliché as it may sound. jake seems like a man who spent his entire life lonely and feeling isolated and to me his story feels like a warning rather than a cynical constatation of the world and society. it doesn't have to be this way.
This film crawled into my skin and refuses to come out. Truly one of the scariest films I’ve seen.
Having just watched it, I totally agree. About a third of the way through (expecting it to be an existential romp a la Kaufman) I actually exclaimed out loud (to myself, for I live alone, but was it to myself, and did I say it or was it my fantasy avatar??) ‘Oh, this is a horror film!’ It also reminded me more of Lynch at his horroriest (thinking Inland Empire probs the scariest thing I’ve ever seen) than of anything Kaufman. I have no problem with that at all.
honestly an existential masterpiece
Your life is an existential masterpiece.
@@seanmatthewking Is that some sort of pickup line?
@@seanmatthewking yeah ok creeper
oh my god ahahaha
Its a movie about how inceldom will make you rope and kill yourself.
I can usually get through movies regardless of how slow or dark they are, but this one really shook me in the wrong way. I stopped about thirty minutes in. Something seemed so off it kinda made me sick.
The movie is filled with things such as subtle change of clothing which your brain will unconsciously pick up on even if you don't notice it and it makes you feel uneasy like something is off but you don't know what xd my friend who is a very sensitive person found it too off putting and also couldn't watch it before nothing even had really happened
You summed up basically my exact experience better than I could
matti tatti also I noticed that there wasn’t music playing in the background most of the time and it was just them talking and the wind. We’re not used to hearing or seeing the type of stuff we saw/heard in this movie. It was great
yess I feel you. I also stopped for a minute after like 30 minutes in, but then kept going because I really wanted to watch Karsten’s review afterwards and it was so worth it!
Me with “Anomalisa”
I think we are supposed to know it's in his head early on. He knows all these musicals because the kids inevitably put on the plays, we see the janitor intercut with the plot and when a conversation takes a turn that frustrates him the whole point she is making or views she holds change. Her clothes and ideas and skills all shift with a line of thinking akin to lucid dreaming where some details don't matter but it's still the same general story. I think we get his memories and line of thinking and the only thing that could cloud that, maybe make it confusing, would be the fact it's from her perspective. If she wasn't the narrator it might be clearer but he can read her thoughts so it still fits, it's just a way to have her think the darker thoughts about himself like how the meeting at a trivia night could pressure a girl and he's that man. His fantasy is self aware and questions him, why he knows a service road to a school that houses so many districts or even how she knows the girl serving ice cream. The choices made make it seem, to me, to be set up for inference from the beginning, even if the viewer isn't certain. I don't think it is meant to be a twist but maybe a long grown reveal of what we should know anyways.
You’re a physicist
You’re a poet
You study degenerate diseases
You’re a painter
You’re a film critic
He knows all the musicals because the kids put on display. What does that mean?
I think there are these hints throughout the movie but to say we were supposed to know from the beginning is an exaggeration.
*Spoiler Below* :
.....
In the book, it’s a twist ending because we find out literally they are the same person... the narrator/janitor. She tells him I want to end things and so he does, resulting in taking his own life.
Imo I think she represents not only a character for the janitor to contextually visualize for fantasy and/or romantic hopeless longing, but also to represent the cluelessness or innocence one has when looking back on their past and/or past traumas.
Shit, even in the book, it’s noted he has schizophrenia and even the movie adds that clue with the one line the mother says with the Tinnitus and the Yule Log. I believe in the film it’s also exhibited in the dad with his ‘forehead band-aid’, him always looking confusedly up and rubbing his head, and the eventual dementia he has.
I think Karsten missed that analysis too imo because it isn’t necessarily about the young woman’s escape, I believe; it’s more of his own wanting to escape and his innocence/“unknowningness” of furthermore wanting to escape his reality and the choices he made...
I think the fantasy is more of a “what if”, perhaps, that gets wrapped into existential horror and fantasy because life is full and complex of the warping of the dream, the reality, and the in-between in all angles and sides of our existence. I think that’s why people do have higher power beliefs because something has to be out there in human life despite our existence having moments or periods that can be dreary, or redundant, and/or harsh (especially (probably from an existential or even awareness level) when it feels human life doesn’t necessarily have to be. Great film, greater book.
Luca laurin exactly. Not to mention that maybe he was an admirer of musical theatre in his younger days? And assuming from his dad’s patronizing of Visual Art/General Art in the dinner scene, I think that represents his suppression of the true art he maybe wanted to express. Not to mention, stereotypically, families who farm seem to be very traditional and conservative so Visual Art? Maybe... but Theatre?? Oh hell no, “too gay”.
Even the quote of Freud and the couple trying to assert that they have no qualms about homosexuality make me feel as if maybe he’s homosexual himself? Or on the spectrum and rustling with his liking for men? Especially since we see him express his own thoughts as female (but I think thematically speaking that showcases how we are all one in the same on a wider scale than what the specific main character is going through)
Not saying you have to be gay to be involved, appreciate, or like Musical Theatre, but 1) everything in this film and book has a meaning even when it seems meaningless and 2) in my own experience, I’ve seen men battle with those confines of sexuality in terms of what does it mean to be a man in theatre but also with men struggling with being involved with entertainment in general and ALSO possibly being a closeted gay man or actually being a closeted gay man (I.e. Rumors of most of the golden age male actors like Marlon Brando or James Dean, Rumors of John Travolta and Tom Cruise, Rumors of possible Gay Rappers like P Diddy, Young Thug, or Tyler the Creator. Not to mention true and real happenstance with Kevin Spacey (🤢), Ezra Miller, Bodybuilder Bob Paris, Anderson Cooper, Ellen Degeneres, Robin Roberts, Ricky Martin, George Michael, etc. etc. etc..)
So I personally think, from two shots in the movie (the 80s hallway scenes), that he enjoyed musical theatre in his younger days but was ashamed of it in a way and had no real access to displaying that passion he had for it, so movies (and science because all things are creative of human invention and human discovery) were the next escape.
Quiet kid: I’m thinking of ending things.
Me: oh I love Kaufman!
Quiet kid: who’s Kaufman?
😳
MonkaS
stolen
Damn
haha funny original joke
you just convinced me to watch it a second time
Funny, it convinced me to not watch it.
cinemonika and karsten in one place what a wonderful world
The repeated "I'm thinking of ending things" whisper seemed to me like the thought creeping back into his mind. Every time we heard it, Jake switched the subject or tried to move on with the fantasy. Every time we think something we don't want to think, we try to change it quickly. Whether it be through our fantasies or onto another "regular" thought. Every time that thought of "should I end my life?" popped up, he tried to hide it. But as time went on, as he continued with his fantasy, his mind deteriorated. It grew harder and harder for him to put that thought away. Just like it says in the book and the movie, "I’m thinking of ending things. Once this thought arrives, it stays. It sticks, lingers, dominates. There’s not much I can do about it, trust me. It doesn’t go away. It’s there whether I like it or not. It’s there when I eat when I go to bed. It’s there when I sleep. It’s there when I wake up. It’s always there. Always." Charlie somehow captured the mind descending into torture and nothing. No fantasy could cover up the feelings of loneliness and depression. To be able to capture that is both terrifying and beautiful.
it's represented by these unanswered calls she keeps on ignoring.
it's his self-destructive side that she won't address, because she's a parasitic figment of his imagination which "wants" to keep on consuming him.
this part of his self-hood (ipseity) doesn't want to acknowledge his impending demise.
note how his remembered/imagined parents - the other part of his subconsciousness - INSIST that she takes the call, even explicitly stating it could be an emergency:
- You should take it. We won't think it rude.
- No, it's OK. It's not important.
- You don't know. It might be. It's a blizzard out there.
- She might be stranded.
- It's OK.
which would be rather weird in real life, because there's absolutely no reason why she wouldn't pick up.
but they are the parts of his imagination that represent the memory of real (if difficult) love he'd received in his life.
whereas she represents fictional love, which provides him with validation he - an underachiever - is longing for.
"Like that's my purpose in all this, in life. To approve of Jake, to keep him going. She's smart, she's talented, she's sensitive. She can do this, she knows about that, she made this, she cares about that" - it's her thoughts (talking about herself in third person, of course) right before the camera cuts to him taking his senile father to the bathroom.
he prefers love that validates him over love that has to be returned.
This reminds me of a book called The Bone Clocks written by David Mitchell. It’s almost like there are two parts to the book, the first time you read it is the first part and the second time you read it is the second part.
I don’t even feel like the movie was much of a horror. It was advertised as that but it’s more of an existential horror with a bit of a comedic element. Maybe it’s cause I have dark humor but there’s kind of a dark humorous feeling with a lot of Kaufman’s movies. It’s more evident in the earlier stuff but there’s hints of it in synecdoche and Anomalisa.
I don't think it was advertised as a horror at all. I feel like it was advertised as another quirky indie drama. I was surprised at how scary I found the film honestly, but I agree it was hilarious in parts too.
I definitely agree
@@ZachBobBob if you watch the first trailer that Netflix released, there's clearly a horror aspect to it.
Ste Gabriel yeah, the ticking with David Thewis and Toni Colette’s most odd moments seems to try to advertise more of a horror vibe
@@gabrielborjas7923 Mmm the last half of the trailer definitely has a horror/thriller vibe to it with the music and toni's cackling but the first half in my mind has a weird quirky vibe to it more then a scary one. I don't know personally I just wasn't expecting something scary going into this
I haven't seen it a second time yet, but the first time I thought the scenes at the farm were the scariest part. The mom and dad acted so unnatural and weird and I could feel the tension and the emotions that Jessie felt. Especially when she went to the laindry room and when she found all the all the paintings and realized they were not hers.
I kinda interpreted it as the janitor (jake) has Alzheimers and is imagining the whole scenario with the road trip with his gf to his parents. Which to me explained all the weird time changes, aging characters, the sudden appearance of the dog (because he was reminded of it), the father having Alzheimers being a metaphor for himself etc.
so the concept of time in the film to me was that he often doesn’t remember how old he is or how old the people around him is. The terrifying aspect of the film to me was that the perspective of Jessie Buckley’s character in the house was like a terrifying interpretation of how someone with Alzheimer’s night feel
Yes, exactly how I interpreted the movie as well. The confusion, the musical
Memories but can’t place face and names and the distorted timelines felt so frighteningly how I would imagine Alzheimer’s feels like ☹️
Brilliant, you’ve helped me clarify a thought! I too thought that old Jake had Alzheimer’s. Most interpretations have the Lucy character merely as a representation of the ‘dream girl(s)’ he couldn’t attain in real life, but I wondered why so much was from her perspective. Also, it allows Jake to see unpleasant things he’s repressed from another point of view (his discomfort with his mother’s timidity/ignorance: etc., dad’s ugly toes just for e.g . As well as the true revelations of his lack of genus - i.e. the rubbish paintings buried in the basement). The other thing that bothered me was the getting naked bit - at the time of watching it seemed he was ripping his clothes of as if he was too hot, as someone with extreme hypothermia might. Perhaps lost (in his mind) and confused he’d been sitting in that truck in the snow for hours or even days?? Anyway, more food for thought, thanks!
That’s how I interpret it as well. There are many subtle but also explicit allusions to dementia/alzheimers. My theory is, that Jake’s condition serves as a depiction of all kinds of mental/cognitive illnesses and I think it makes sense that Alzheimers is the one condition that can represent all at once. I believe that the parents are representations of the symptoms Jake suffers from, and the TT girls personify society’s lack of understanding and how it stigmatizes people with mental and cognitive disorders. The girl with the rashes represents people like Jake, who miss or lose chances in life due to how they are perceived through their appearance (physical/mental), also the small part of society that really cares. Although the movie is more than ambiguous, I think that it depicts the invisible struggle and suffering of (aging) people, how neglect (I’m pretty certain that Jakes mother plays an important role in this, every reaction and utterance to/about his mother could be a clue, also the ending scene, mother on the stage, father in the audience, supporting parent), and society’s ignorance. But this is only a small percentage of interpretation. There is so much more purpose behind the movie.
“You sigh into the onslaught of identical days” this line also gets me.
idk why, but this film reminds me that bojack halfway down episode
I feel like you would like Alan Resnicks work. Look him up! You won’t regret it, (well, you will deeply regret it but you won’t.)
Yeah. Similar vibes. I get that.
because they are both stories about the imaginations of a person who was about to die
It’s actually creepy how similar they are, both are the dying delusions of a lonely man who’s life was shaped by stories and media because he couldn’t get over his own demons and make human connections, so they’re constantly trying to live out things that can never exist.
Yessssss I was literally watching this movie and I was like "I really hope Karsten talks or makes a video about this" :)
I loved that you brought up the concept of the fantasy's self-awareness since I haven't really seen other reviewers talk about it and it's one of the first things I realized after finishing the novel and movie.
This film deeply resonated with me albeit it being weird, spooky and confusing at times. Recently having a loved one pass away, many thoughts, feelings and questions I have about death, time and grief were reflected in the film. It was surprising. Great art is like a mirror sometimes. If I watched this film a year ago or even a month ago, it would've impressed me but not have an affect on me.
I totally agree also that video you got on your channel is really cool!
@@JordanChrist666 hey, thank you.
I've read the book twice in the last two years and wrote a small review on it. The book pretty much books down to being an extended suicide note written on the concepts of loneliness and wishing he had done more. Jake is suffering and has been for many years, but always failed to make connections, which make him simmer on the question of, without people, or friends, or connections, what is left to ground us in this world when things get bad? The question 'what are you waiting for' repeats and becomes a mantra against his better judgement, leading to the horrible decision.
That said, I'm glad to see extra and expanded upon ideas for the movie. It sounds like a hell of a ride
Jake never got married. He was an introvert. So he imagined everything, through out his whole life. Loneliness killed him.
Technically hypothermia killed him 😂😂
Its a movie about how inceldom will make you rope and kill yourself.
I think it was moreso his dreams that killed him. Loneliness is bearable for someone who accepts it, but he simply couldn't, dreaming constantly of finding artistic or scientific success and above all love, and in doing so spent his life in unfulfilled misery
Getting married doesn't mean anything. Hell, 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, these are horrible odds, yet people keep gambling. Having a partner is different from signing a piece of paper.
the old man is having a maladaptive daydreaming
I've been saying this in other videos and on other social media sites, and finally someone else says it!
I was think the same thing!! I have a severe maladaptive daydreaming problem and I see some similarities.
This!!!!! The sudden turn for violence it takes in the end!! The way the 'young women' and the mother share their weird laughing styles and if you've read the book you can tell that the young women starts acting more and more like who Jake actually is rather than who Jake thinks the young women is supposed to
Yes!
I love how the fantasy of Jake speaking through Jessie Buckley was almost like a continuation of Synechdoche, NY's idea of reconciling the masculine and feminine aspects of your personality. Escaping into another person, specifically a woman's voice is always a reoccurring theme of Kaufman that I enjoy to see
Also, did you notice when we are first getting introduced to the protagonist and we see them in the car within the opening moments that they are not wearing seat belts in the car?
Mine is extreme case of maladaptive daydreaming and for years has been my coping mechanism, i realised much later that all I was fantasizing was family which understands me and friends who get me, because I didn't have that in real life, but it's sad, it's not gonna work, I was losing my mind, connections, and ambition, at sometime we have to stop or else it'll consume us and keep us depressed forever,
The scene where Buckley’s character completely changed appearance sent shivers down my spine
This movie is wild. After a second viewing, you realize that his parents and how weird they are is actually how they think about thim! However, I do believe that he actually saw the girlfriend in real life but never approached her to talk to her. It's indicated in the beginning of the film when the janitor sees her from the window!
Its a movie about how inceldom will make you rope and kill yourself. When even imaginary girls reject you then it never began for you.
I didn’t watch this movie alone, and so we were trying our best to analyze every part of this movie. By the end, I felt as though I had understood it (personally I interpreted it as a man with Alzheimer’s final moments, with the young woman being a representation of his friends, loves, and just a general manifestation of his insecurity being that all he accomplished was being a janitor) but I was exhausted. I’m not sure I would have completed it were it not for me being with people. The movie was so so good and had excellent pay off, cinematography, sets, and editing and I’m so glad I stuck through to the very end. Everything felt off, yet in a way that made it come together. By the trailer, I was expecting something more along the lines of the Shining’s horror, but this really is in a category all it’s own.
Watching this and synecdoche New York gives me serious ‘the caretaker’ vibes.
What do you mean? Like the musician The Caretaker?
palbo4 I mean the six and a half hour music series (everywhere at the end of time).
@@ivancorredera4241 that's what I thought you meant! I've been so curious about Everywhere at the End of Time but I've been too intimidated to listen to it. You make me want to even more
palbo4 it’s quite depressing if you understand the context. The artist spent three years utilizing old retro ball music, distorting it and remixing to craft a music piece that is meant to demonstrate the effects of dementia, slowly not being able to remember certain memories, ending in your character slowly dissolving into a husk, an empty shell unable to remember the past. I wonder if Kaufman listened to it.
@@ivancorredera4241 yeah, that sounds devastating and extremely unique. Really does sound like it has similar themes to those movies, I feel like I have to listen to this. Do you have to listen to the whole thing in one sitting or is it still effective if you listen to just certain parts of it at a time?
this movie was very poggers
piggers
I'm thinking of POGGERS things.
tru
69th like poggers!
Pawggers*
This movie was so incredible, definitely a mind twister.
Thank god, finally an analysis that's not just a recap of the movie with one or two obvious comments shoved in
I thought this thumbnail meant he was ending his movie analyses.
I just realized that this film includes three actors from the excellent FARGO TV series. Jesse Plemmons, David Thewlis and Jessie Buckley from seasons 2, 3 and 4 respectively. Awesome.
Her real name is maggot.
That's the metaphor.
She's an obsession consuming him from within, borne out of his isolation and regret.
It's not by coincidence that once they finally meet (the old, real janitor, not his imaginary younger self), she is HIDING.
"He finally managed to move one [pig[, and discovered... its entire underside was filled with maggots" - remember?
And it's not by coincidence that when she's hiding, he finds her sitting ON THE FLOOR.
A bizarre choice. Why would the director have someone sit down when hiding?
You'd normally stand up; your frame is somewhat more narrow then.
But maggots can't stand up. You find them underneath stuff.
That's also why he's following the pig at the end of the movie.
"Someone has to be a pig infested with maggots, right?" - the pigs asks him.
And goes on: "It might as well be you" - the pig is obviously not talking about itself here, but about Jake.
"It's the luck of the draw", the pig adds (the exact same phrase his mum used in reference to Jake, praising his talents)
Jake is infested (psychologically, of course). A maggot is not an evil creature though. "Everything wants to live, Jake. [...] Even fake, crappy movie ideas want to live. Like, they grow in your brain, replacing real ideas."
She's a dream - an idea (also a movie idea, as she's partially inspired by a rom-com he watched) that's borderline self-conscious, eating him from within, and ultimately killing.
Another clue is the fact that she's got no appetite throughout the entire movie.
She refuses a snack on the way to his parents.
She barely touches the ice cream on the way back.
Why? Because she's a maggot.
She's got no appetite for snacks or ice cream. She's eating HIM.
This notion of eating an alive sentient being is signalled by that scene from that movie within a movie, the romantic comedy.
Of all the subjects they might have gone for, the waitress is vegan: "And she realized that a hamburger is just a ground-up cow."
And how does his mum encourage her to eat?
"All homemade. Everything you see on the table is from the farm."
Well; Jake grew up on the farm.
And she did as well - "I grew up on a farm", she exclaims when they're arguing before they arrive at the school. Of course a maggot did.
And if you think that's a stretch - fine.
But as they invite her for dinner, his dad explicitly compares food to a body ("all the food will be as cold as a witch's tit").
It doesn't happen once, but twice.
The second time it gets as close to spelling the idea out as possible.
Remember the chocolate cake (which looks very unappetizing, to be fair)?
How is she encouraged to eat the cake - "Chocolate yule log [...] Reminds me of when Jake used to suck his thumb [...] Yule log. Kinda looks like thumb!"
What a bizarre thing to say. (And how the hell does it look like a thumb anyway :) ).
But again not a coincidence.
She eats the cake when it's likened to Jake's body.
"your eyes have become a hunger.
You come home with your mutant gifts
to a house of bone.
Everything you see now,
all of it...
bone."
"It's like you wrote it about me", he says, and it is about self-consumption (in my opinion), but it's her - the parasitic figment of his imagination - that presents it as her poem to him.
"Perhaps the real maggots were the friends we imagined along the way", huh? : )
Just thinking out loud here - Philip Seymour Hoffman would have been PERFECT for the janitor role in his older form 💔
If I hadn't known that the novel was from two years after Philip Seymour Hoffman died, I would have been sure the character of Jack was written for him exactly.
Honestly Jesse Plemons does look a lot like PSH. Similar eyes, build and demeanor in performances. I know he gets compared to Matt Damon (Meth Damon and Fat Damon were some of his nicknames during Breaking Bad), but he is comparable to PSH in my mind.
@@rsfilmdiscussionchannel4168 Jesse Plemons played as PSH's son in The Master
@@scarletrodriguez9468 Oh yeah he did. Perfect casting. If they do a PSH biopic or just have him appear in a film, Jesse should play him.
it's not only a fantasy, it's inner moving of the janitor. through fictional girl he tries to find a way to love himself and his life, which is represented by young jake and the memories. she never really succeeds but just trying=existing makes her the reason that keeps the janitor going. that's why she's the main character. she keeps the fantasy=film going. if she decided to end relationship to young jake, it would basically mean a loss of hope and ending of janitor's life. but most importantly, i think that all the parts of the story are neither fantasies, memories, impressions, thoughts or feelings. It's all of it at once and that's what makes the film so touching. one's psyche is much more complicated than words to describe it. everything in this movie is only Jake himself. the point of it is to make us feel completely like him - alone, confused, depressed. the point of that is to confront us with the deepest existential fears we all share. and making us do so is very, very noble. true art
Did anyone notice the copy of A Beautiful Mind in the childhood bedroom?
It made the ending a lot funnier for me.
Well you literally explained my existential crisis for years now, but hella heightened recently .
One of my biggest fears is things not making sense and during this film everything changed. Like how they met and though I know that was on purpose it drove me mad.
This movie was great, I got misty eyed during the part when the girl was talking to the old janitor telling him that their interaction didn’t matter to her. It was like he formulated all of these fake ideas about her in his mind for his whole life, and nothing even existed. He didn’t even exist in her mind. Then, the part when the pig animation was leading him was symbolizing him being led into the afterlife. Not sure how that is how others interpreted that part, but that is how I saw that
When the boyfriend kept changing her profession and her name I was like this is amazing 😭😭😭😭
I think I enjoy this movie more than Synecdoche New York tbh. The way Kaufman burrows into my brain and digs out all of these anxieties just to put them back on the screen with relatable yet dark characters is astounding.
i asked him abt a video essay on this movie last night. this is the best feeling ever
Congratulations, thanks for suggesting this to him! 🎊😍
The poem at the beginning shook me up. I want to think more about that in the context of the rest of the film.
This movie does for mental illness what jaws did for the ocean
Can you explain it? I'm not quite understand :(
@@geniusonyeo the movie jaws back in the day caused a 'shark panic' where people suddenly thought sharks were these super dangerous swimmer killing machines and i think more sharks were killed
so i guess marco wants to say that this movie vilified mental illness and made it look bad like that though i don't think i agree
@@Fuckyourselfgoogle i think it's more just an inside joke; a youtuber (YourMovieSucks) did a video where he mentioned how dumb it was that trailer and DVD cover featured reviews often compared scary movies to Jaws
wfd87 yeah I was just about to comment. He did that I’m his frozen review!
@@wfd87 There are 2 types of people
This movie made me feel so nauseated and uncomfortable lmao, I enjoyed it
The ending was utterly sad and you definitely can relate to the janitor, in the human sense. Sometimes you get caught up in your thoughts and daydreams and realize a lot of your life isn’t what you imagined it would turn out to be. He ended up totally unsatisfied with his life but trying to relive what seemed to have been his constant wishful dreams one last time. As spectators, we are caught in his last one, his last trip through an imagined memory lane. Obviously, the end sums up his last wish, to no longer wish. :(
I watched this weeks ago and it’s the middle of the night. I can’t get it out of my brain. Something possessed me to look this up and I knew there would be lots of video essays about it. Watching them helps me get them out of my brain thankfully, god speed!
you should check out the caretakers "everything at the end of time stages 1-6 complete" now its a couple of albums not a movie, but i think it would play with your feelings of time and memory pretty well!
Yes! I couldn't help but think about it while I was watching the movie haha. Though (if he gets to read our comments) you should know the whole project is 6 hours long, but it's totally worth it
yessss, I was thinking about it while watching the whole movie
the premise "the scariest thing to be is alive" makes me think of Beau is Afraid. I think that movie does a fantastic job of demonstrating how terrifying it is to exist and to experience existential dread, anxiety, fear, and everything else that comes with the human condition.
I'm still depressed from watching this movie when it first came out.
Its so good but so depressing.
People who call this movie boring are expecting a thriller/horror but its simply poetic.
Love this review so much, it put into words so many things that I had been thinking about the film but wasn’t able to articulate! Small nitpick but I think it’s interesting, her paintings weren’t actually Jake’s paintings, they were the Blakelock paintings on the posters and you can see that Jake’s paintings on the floor were mediocre attempts to copy Blakelock’s style of landscape painting.
Fun fact: I had literally watched a woman under the influence the night before, which kiiiinda fucked my brain up when she went on a full rant about the movie I just saw
Wow. I love it when new light is shed on my favorite movies. You brought up some themes in this video that I had failed to notice. Thank you for making me see this film through a different pair of glasses. It makes rewatches way more interesting.
I didn’t realize that this was a horror film
did you realize this eventually
@@sean640no. i just thought they were freaks
Found your channel through your hereditary video, watched your midsommar one, now this and I really love your thoughtful critiques! New subscriber! :)
Really great work! Easily my favorite of the year so far. I love how it’s read differently by everyone that I’ve read/talked to about it. There is a line after the Young Woman’s poem about returning home where Jake is taken aback by how personal the poem felt to him, as if she wrote it for him. And I think this film accomplishes that really well. Everyone I’ve talked to has found ways to see their own personal fears in this story, feeding there own unique interpretations. Really cool stuff.
This is a paragraph from my review that sums up my take.
“-We follow Jake on an unreliable journey through his own life, through the eyes of a Young Woman. Who is she? Simply put, she isn’t. A figment of Jakes imagination built from the images and personalities of former partners. Maybe one was an English major, maybe a painter, a quantum physicist, or a gerontologist. Whoever ‘she’ was or is, Jake sees her as an observer. Someone he let into varying aspects of his life. Maybe he regrets that, maybe he doesn’t. But it still bothers him. Jake is bothered by a lot of things actually. The death of a childhood pet, his flaws, his failed intellectual and artistic endeavors, the deterioration of his parents. Things that still haunt him into his old age, eating away at him like maggots. Haunting him to such an extent he eventually follows them to his death. He reaches for pieces of his childhood on his way out, an ice cream or a jingle he held onto for as long as he could remember but it’s futile. He has been there many times before. Life’s biggest questions and confusions remain in answered and unresolved. But as he stands on a stage accepting an award of his own invention, he finds peace.”
Wow. Just wow.
Honestly, that was my take on it as well. One can never know if they're entirely right about a piece like this, but reading your comment at least let's me know I wasn't alone in my analysis of it. I think you put it more eloquently than I could, though 🙂
this movie fucked with my emotions so deep within the first few minutes that i actually stopped watching and decided to read the book first. it hasn’t gotten here yet but i’m very excited to read and watch and then come back to this video
Did you notice the explicit "A Beautiful Mind" scene reference? A DVD copy of the film is placed in Jakes Childhood Room. Genius!.. Or Genus?
When I saw the movie I couldn't help but think of both Mirror by Takovsky and Barton Fink by the Coen brothers: Mirror, because of the way it treats the concept of time, and Barton Fink, because of the way it treats the concept of a character inside the other character's head.
I reviewed this on my channel and I’ve come to the conclusion that I am shit at everything and that I mean nothing to the world
Also my fav movie of the year
The sign of a good movie is that it makes you hate yourself.
@@seanmatthewking I want to disagree and yet a part of me agrees.
About that media part... im not saying that it does not affect us BUT people seems to forget or dont know that sometimes our thought is just a thought - we dont have to believe in it or act upon it
You analyzed this movie? I was confused since the very beginning of the film. I'll be back to finally gain some understanding.
Its confusing of course, but it makes me feel something, its a sad sad sad movie
WAIT they made a movie of this book??? I loved the book!!!
dont expect it to be too similar lol - its a charlie kaufman adaptation
Travis Lathangue lol, I’ll check it out this weekend and hope for the best
One of my favorite movies so far this year watched it 3xs watch it till the end credits are over for the full effect!
great video! Love this movie so much
This movie made me feel uneasy the whole time. Something about it was so eerie and very depressing. Also this video is fucking amazing👍🏻
He had dementia. It was so obvious to me from when faces started looking weird. The horror of i’m thinking of ending things is living with dementia and many regrets.