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    The End of the Tour

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    I love a good movie that makes you think. Don’t get me wrong, I like my big monster movies where a seventy-five foot gargantuan lizard chows down on subways, pictures where colorful heroes battle each other or a prowling killer butchers one teenager after another and those are not necessarily “dumb movies”. Sometimes though, the movies that really stick with you are not the big flashy flicks. It’s the intimate stories where what grips you is the spoken word or the ideas that blossom within your own head as you sit comfortably in the theatre with no distractions except for your own thoughts and what is developing on the silver screen.

    Told in flashback, “The End of the Tour” is based on the memoir “Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself” by David Lipsky. The plot covers David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg), a writer for Rolling Stone who travels to meet novelist David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) and follow him on his book tour of the smash hit novel “Infinite Jest”.

    It’s not so much what happens in this movie. It’s how it makes you feel, how it all unfolds and how it’s said. I walked into this one cold, knowing only that it had received positive reviews. At first I didn’t know what to make of it, but the further in I got, the more enraptured I was by the conversations that these two men have. They’re both writers, or more importantly, artists and intelligent people.

    When you hear about someone becoming famous for doing exactly what you wish you could be doing, isn’t it hard to be happy for the person? Yeah, if you know them personally you witnessed the slings and arrows they suffered through. From a distance though, I think it’s really easy to come to resent successful people. Similarly, it must be overwhelming for an artist to suddenly find him/herself famous and recognized. The years of struggle finally pay off, but if your claim to fame is art, I think it’s a complicated ordeal. Do you ever realize that point at which “wow, now I’m good enough to be big”? More than likely someone else tells you, and what a peculiar experience that must be. I think a lot of artists, who I believe are probably more prone to depression, big bursts of emotion and self-doubt. Perhaps it’s because their talent isn’t clearly visible like a perfectly symmetrical face or finely sculpted muscles. How one must struggle both with that upwards climb up the hill and with the idea that they’ve finally made it. All of these thoughts raced through my head during the film as it deals with so many philosophical and reflective topics in a way that feels completely natural. This movie is essentially one long conversation, but as the poster calls it “Imagine the greatest conversation you’ve ever had”.

    What I love about this movie is that there’s so much to it. The fact that there’s not really a villain, but both the interviewer and the subject being recorded have negative and positive aspects to them. Lipsky is this fan that has real passion for his project, to the point where he begs his editor to let him do the piece. He’s also interviewing Wallace with ulterior motives in mind. If he can write a truly great article, it could be his launching point. As for Wallace, I found him to be both inspirational, but also sad. He is a great writer (you only get small snippets of his book, but it sounds terrific) and is very much down-to-earth, but he’s also insecure and kind of terrified of where this journey could take him. It’s a real paradox considering every artist dreams of turning his hobby into a living, but when you spent five or ten or even twenty years writing, painting or singing without ever getting paid or getting recognized it’s kind of weird to suddenly have your world turned upside down when your dream comes true.

    I’m certain that I could watch this film numerous times and always draw something new from it. I’ll briefly touch on the technical aspects of it. Firstly, the performances are quite strong. Jason Segel, who I really loved in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “The Muppets”, but hasn’t really done much since is unrecognizable in this drama. He’s so good, as is Jesse Eisenberg. They both deliver some of the best, if not the best dialogue I’ve heard all year with absolute perfection. This brings me to the strong screenplay by Donald Margulies. I’m sure much of the credit is also due to David Lipsky’s original book, but if I can criticize a bad book adaptation, then I can shower with compliments a good one too. It’s all put together confidently by James Pronsoldt who has made one of the best films of the year.

    I found it absolutely gripping and a little bit earth shattering, as I struggled internally to mentally mark down all of the thoughts and ideas that flashed in my skull as I listened. By the end of it I was very moved and heartbroken that the movie did not last longer than it did. Before you go seek out this gem, which is likely only playing at one or two theatres in your city, two things; stay for the end credits because there’s a scene about a fourth of the way through. Secondly, lest you think I’m just imitating every major critic who’s seen this movie and loved it, I have one criticism. Yeah that’s right, one. I noticed a typo in the end credits. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen that so if someone out there is able to, fix up that one word before this film gets release on Blu-ray and DVD! I can’t wait to see this again. (Theatrical version on the big screen, September 23, 2015)

    10
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    adamwatchesmovies@  24.9.2015 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

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