What follows becomes more like a full-blown action thriller as it progresses and by the final act there’s an indication the movie may only exist to showcase Rose’s expertise as a stunt performer. By Night’s End is still enjoyable though, no matter how many action movie cliches may get thrown at the audience, although those looking for something more emotionally involving may be left disappointed.The trip to a remote farmhouse is just the narrative skeleton on which Kaufman hangs arguably his most challenging film to date, a piece that verges on Lynchian in its surreal register, moving back and forth between reality and a dreamlike commentary on connection, although there may be even less of the former than it first appears. In a sense, all of Kaufman’s films have been about connection, but this one feels different in that it doesn’t have people pushing through this world in an effort to connect as much as realizing that they just can’t. There’s a line early in the film that haunted me throughout the next nearly two hours: “Other animals live in the present. Humans cannot. So they invented hope.” “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is about human constructions like hope, happiness, connection, and even time. I’m thinking that description probably doesn’t help you.
