2015 Directed by James Ponsoldt
The story of the five-day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace, which took place right after the 1996 publication of Wallace's groundbreaking epic novel, 'Infinite Jest.'
El último tour, 两心相依, 作家上路了, 旅程末端, 旅程终点
There can be great joy in seeing yourself onscreen. And there can be pain as well.
In The End of the Tour, Jesse Eisenberg plays a writer named David Lipsky. He has a full-time job at Rolling Stone, and he’s just published a novel. By most standard definitions, he would be considered "successful." But his novel’s gone mostly unnoticed and writing boy band profiles isn’t exactly fulfilling. Something’s missing.
When David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, published around the same time as Lipsky’s own novel, becomes a critical sensation, he reacts with skepticism at his rival’s achievement. Then he reads that achievement for himself. When he does, director James Ponsoldt holds on a long shot of Eisenberg sitting on Lipsky’s couch,…
81/100
The End of the Tour is an intimate and delicate exploration of artists, their motivations, and their various influences on aspects of fame, ego, and relationships. With the perfect modern romance The Spectacular Now within his relatively-slim filmography, James Ponsoldt has already set a high-bar in regards to expectations, but I can happily report that my predictions for The End of the Tour came true. This is a beautiful film.
Supported by two stunning performances, The End of the Tour succeeds so brilliantly because of the rapid-fire and supremely naturalistic screenplay, allowing substantial character depth and richness to be drawn from the pages. Jason Segel is the most talked-about aspect here, and for good reason. His portrayal of David…
50/100
Nashville Scene review. One tiny thing I couldn't possibly find a way to fit into it, but which will probably be what I'll recall most vividly about this rather mundane film in years to come: Wallace puts Murmur on at his house, and we actually hear the album play as he and Lipsky talk. As in, "Perfect Circle" ends and then "Catapult," which is in fact the next song, begins. Whether because of rights issues or just because dialogue scenes rarely run long enough, hearing two consecutive songs from the same album—commonplace in real life—almost never happens in movies. In fact, I can't remember another example offhand, which is why it jumped out at me. A meaningless touch, perhaps, but welcome nonetheless.
Spectators who enjoyed this film may also enjoy:
-My Dinner With Andre
-Before Midnight
-Nekromantik
-2 hours of defocused images of snow accompanied by introspective ambient synths
-Placing the Blu-ray on a shelf next to This Is Water and none of David Foster Wallace's significant works
-Imagining David Lipsky falling down an industrial staircase that descends infinitely into the void
“I don't think writers are any smarter than other people. I think they may be more compelling in their stupidity, or in their confusion.”
It's crazy how such a great film ends up buried and forgotten come awards season, but here we are. Fifty Shades of Grey is now an Academy Award nominee. The End of the Tour, however, is not.
Don't be put off by the seemingly boring premise of two guys simply talking, The End of the Tour is an excellent and absorbing character study. The road-trip biopic is like this generation's My Dinner with Andre—nothing fancy, never showy, but rich in profundity and emotion. Even the ending is low-key brilliant.
The film works…
In addition to my thoughts I posted in my initial review, a second viewing has lead me to a very different place. I found myself initially dwelling on Lipsky's envy, his utter desire for what Wallace had but did not seem grateful for. I focused on how it was a film about perspective, conformity and desire, a look at how we tend to mythologize those we deem greater than ourselves, in a fleeting attempt to rationalize our shortcomings in comparison. And while I don't feel this is untrue, a second viewing has brought to light another side of this gem of a film.
Watch this video. It's a ten minute visual representation of Wallace's commencement address at a college graduation,…
Nimbly takes some of the more provocative, wide-ranging ideas from David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest – about loneliness, ego, addictive entertainment and American achievement – and lets them play out in the intimate arena of conversation. It’s My Dinner with Andre, but set in cars and over the dismal junk food that the movie suggests was the basis of Wallace’s diet.
Full review here.
First, some context. I first watched this film last November, loved it, and became intrigued about David Foster Wallace, author of Infinite Jest for those that don’t know. Of course I’d heard of IJ, this infamous gargantuan novel that had astounded readers and seemed to take on a life of it’s own as something people would declare “changed their life” on a relatively regular basis. I had half-considered reading it a few times in the past but the idea of reading a 1000+ page novel just killed any vibe I had with it. It certainly sounded great, but I had never read anything that long in my lifetime; I was also on a binge to read as many books as…
For most of my life, from as early as I can remember, I suffered from major depression. I sometimes felt compelled to kill myself, yet I was simultaneously desperate to remain alive. Despite the constant pull towards death, as though the grim reaper was hooking my by the neck with the round end of a walking stick and trying to yank me out of myself, I never once wanted to give up the ghost of this experience called life in all of its chaotic, uncertain and absurd glory. As such, I found it difficult to reconcile these two diametrically opposed feuding desires, locked as they were in some kind of Manichaen battle to the death. It almost seemed that Freud…
I didn’t know much about David Foster Wallace going into this. I’m not sure if that helped or not.
I loved the use of in media res here. Starting near the ending & knowing exactly where the story was heading gave the journey that much more depth.
Eisenberg and Segel both gave pretty decent performances, particularly Segel. The movie did get a little bit formulaic in the middle but not having read the book & being unfamiliar with the backstory I don’t know if that’s because of the source material or not.
Random tidbit: I appreciated the movie selections they had in the theater given this takes place around 1995. The glory days lol
