This elliptical drama is set in the late 1990s in Galicia, the Northwestern region of Spain more commonly associated with idyllic yet precarious rural life – as seen in recent films such as Fire Will Come (Olivier Laxe, 2019), Elisa and Marcela (Isabel Coixet, 2019), (), The Beasts (Rodrigo Sorogoyen, 2022) and The Rye Horn (jaione Camborda, 2023).
Instead of these peaceful countryside Gracia has chosen as his setting a gloomy and decadent urban scenario. This is Ferrol, an ancient port city that used to be prosperous but now lies fallen into poverty and despair. It is also the birthplace of Francisco Franco Bahamonde, known popularly as el Caudillo or simply Franco: the murkiest and dirtiest figure in Spain’s recent history.
Unemployed for three years and living on welfare in Madrid since turning forty-three, Damián (Alfonso Míguez) only just about manages to scrape together enough money for food each day. His bed has broken under his weight; he sleeps on a mattress lying directly on the floor. His body is emaciated; his hair long, greasy; his face gaunt and haggard; his eyes sunken deep into their sockets all of it adding at least ten years to what remains anyway a very primitive appearance.
He wants to win €150K by going on a TV game show. Damian does think he should be filmed with the slimy presenter against chromakey instead of shooting it in front a colourful background added later in studio: behind them there’d be nothing but emptiness and desolation. But when Damian fails to win €150K on TV he returns home empty-handed.
He goes to stay with Doña Pilar (Pilar Soto), an old friend who runs a small guest house at the top of a dying building. La Parra, that’s what it’s called as in the Spanish film title. But you’d only know that if you paid very close attention: read the sign partly obscured by a crane across street. This is a highly fragmented film, not all puzzle pieces fit together neatly together but this doesn’t prevent Gracia from creating beguiling pictures of chaos.
Even so there is beauty here; dark and filthy and dreary urbanscapes populated by bizarre and eccentric creatures seen in no other way than through Diane Arbus’ eyes. The other guests include Monica (Lorena Iglesias) a young woman who insists Damian should go out dancing, gives him hand with very dangerous request as well as various nameless characters: ugly people straight out of Diane Arbus.
Two persons insist Damien is actually called Cosme, but he dismisses these comments. Meanwhile somewhere else several blind people are looking for their guide, also called Cosme (played by Alberto Gracia). They do not know that he has just killed himself because they believe he can see when in fact they cannot, and have been left alone in middle of nowhere on countryside trail while rest wait back at car or something.
The one with most vision (which amounts to little more than few shadows and flashes) tries to reach road so they can all come home safe again. Literally the blind leading blind! The absurdity notwithstanding these scenes have deeply humanistic element about them; are quite moving rather too gently indeed for such otherwise rough-edged picture!
Damian’s/Cosme’s identity is the central narrative of I’m Thinking of Ending Things, as we are left to puzzle over who these two men are and how they might be connected: Are they the same person? Has Damian died? There is another brush with death when our protagonist finds that his car has been towed by a private company without any explanation or perhaps it is all in Damian’s head, and he has never owned a car.
A snippet of found footage from a real-life tragedy is deftly woven into the film as well, during this moment of disconnectedness from the rest of the world (which temporarily turns into a virtual island) shared between him and his city. The ending is wonderfully unreal; it provides enough answers to keep you thinking about them for days.
The music score – oh God! The beautiful, wonderful music! It sets everything else off balance. It’s aggressively dissonant. Like when those blind people start looking for their guide and an aggressive electronic track punches you in the face out of nowhere. Or that bizarre string section with distant drumming underscoring some absolutely unrelated moment. This movie wants to confuse you and then leave you there right there!
In this jarring, perverse but also kind of magical little place where nothing makes sense until it does again; where all logic flies out the window only to come back twice as strong; where every rule is broken so many times over that eventually none apply anymore. And boy does it succeed! Such a unique piece of filmmaking from such an original voice behind it.
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