Written and directed by Charlie Kaufman and adapted from the novel by Iain Reid, I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS (2020, streaming on Netflix) is a surreal existentialist riff that is equal parts intriguing and sluggish.

The film opens with Lucy (Jessie Buckley) driving through snowy farmland with her boyfriend Jake (Jesse Plemons) to meet his parents. She’s unhappy with him and possibly depressed about the human condition and its lack of meaning and connection; he’s meticulous and reaches out only to trip over his own pedantic nature and insecurities. At his parents’ house, his mother and father (Toni Collette and David Thewlis) strike Lucy as strange, one scene disjointedly leading to the next and becoming increasingly surreal, making her wonder who she is.

There is philosophy here and plenty of it, a point that it is hard for humans to connect and much of their connection is an illusory construct, and another point that the little and big ways we are hurt and fail to connect cost us in many ways–from finding love to realizing our true potential–and by the time we realize it, it’s too late, and the story in which we are the star unravels and ultimately means nothing.

Depressing stuff, though challenging and important as it does in fact define a fundamental in the human condition. I appreciated that aspect, though for all the film’s surrealism and humanity, it never captures the heart of Kaufman’s ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND or the weirdness of his BEING JOHN MALKOVICH or the loneliness of his ADAPTATION. The result often feels like a slog, particularly during the very long driving scenes, making the film feel like a play that might have best been enjoyed more intimately on a stage.

In the end, I liked this cerebral film and really liked what it was trying to do, though it fell short for me in ideas (where’s the hope? what’s the solution?) and in its very slow pacing.

TREAD (2020, streaming on Netflix) is a taut and tense documentary about Marvin John Heemeyer’s incredible rampage in an armored bulldozer that wrecked a small Colorado town in 2004. The documentary rolls out in an interesting way, presenting Heemeyer’s side of the story–much of it through audiotape recordings he made prior to his rampage–before rolling out additional testimony pointing to him being delusional and quite possibly a sociopath, making the truth as complicated and individual as it probably is. It’s pretty well done, and in the end, it’s not the feel-good, average-bluecollar-guy-pushed-too-far-and-fights-city-hall tale we want it to be, but rather a tragic and sad story about a man hitting the breaking point.

The documentary tells the whole story with plenty of interviews and perspectives, Heemeyer’s tapes telling his own version, some slick reenactments, and photos and video taken on the fateful day. The basic story is this: Heemeyer lived in Granby for ten years after buying a piece of land on auction and building a muffler shop on it. His various disputes with the town council set him at odds with various people, including a powerful family that owned a concrete business. The way Heemeyer tells it, this family controlled the town and conspired to punish him for standing up to them, creating a deep resentment taken to the level of mythic proportions. The way others tell it, nobody was out to get him, and he was just unreasonable and stubborn. Fed up, burning with a sense of persecution, and believing God commanded him to act, Heemeyer sold everything he owned, bought a bulldozer, armored it in steel and concrete, and went on a rampage. The rampage is incredible, as the police were virtually powerless against what was effectively a homemade tank crushing vehicles and buildings. Heemeyer got his revenge, and he paid for it with his life.

Watching TREAD, it’s tempting to project one’s own resentments against the establishment onto the story and wish Heemeyer was a hero, but once you get to the end, you realize the story is far too complicated, sad, and tragic for anything other than regret this happened, and if nothing else, it’s proof that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, even if the truth isn’t certain.

SEARCHING (2018, streaming on Netflix) is a mystery thriller film about a missing teenager that commits to a format, pulls an amazing amount of character and drama out of it, and presents a twisty, virtually unpredictable mystery.

The film rolls out on a series of small screens: desktops, laptops, cell phones, Youtube videos, Facebook, security camera footage, and the like. Through this format, we see a girl named Margot grow up with two loving parents. Tragedy strikes, and father David is left to raise his teenage daughter by himself. One night, she says she’s going to be out late with a study group but never returns. Now David must try to find out what happened to her using a variety of devices and social media, learning his daughter’s secrets in the process.

Limiting what we see to a series of small screens and clicks is an interesting device that could have quickly felt like a gimmick. Instead, it’s so well done through able direction that it plays out as a tense thriller, and the limited view provides a simultaneously voyeuristic yet intimate participation in Margot’s life and David’s search. Even with the limited lens, the good acting and script invest us heavily in drama that transcends the gimmick and provide almost constant tension with pacing that rarely flags. Within 5-10 minutes, I was affected and invested in these people by seeing the story of Margot growing up. The mystery aspect plays out extremely well, with all the seeds provided but nonetheless unpredictable and filled with twists. Thematically, the film touches on dealing with loss, the responsibilities of fatherhood, and the double-edged sword that is electronic media in our highly connected, low-privacy age.

Overall, I really liked this one and highly recommend it.

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 7500 (2019, streaming on Amazon Prime) is a film about an airplane hijacking told from the viewpoint of one of the pilots. Though it’s somewhat predictable and its message gets muddied in the last act, I thought it was extremely tense and overall well done, and Gordon-Levitt really shines in the role. (This movie should not be confused with Flight 7500, which is a supernatural horror movie; 7500 is the code used to alert ground control that hijackers are onboard, which explains why it’s used in the titling for both movies.)

The story begins with Captain Lutzmann and First Officer Ellis (Gordon-Levitt) preparing for a flight from Berlin to Paris. Ellis has a brief conversation with a flight attendant onboard, who turns out to be his girlfriend with whom they share a child. After takeoff, terrorists storm the cockpit, resulting in a very tense standoff.

The film does a good job putting you in an airplane, from the ever-present aerosol hum to cinema-verite view of cockpit procedures. In fact, the entire film takes place in the cockpit. When the standoff begins, Ellis has a range of tools: a locked door, camera showing him what’s happening right outside the cockpit, flight controls, intercom/phone/radio. This both provides interesting weapons he can use but is also limiting in that you know he must fail so as to keep the story going. What’s particularly interesting is the method the terrorists use to control the passengers, which easily bypasses weapons screening, and how they are able to storm the cockpit, both of which reveal very real vulnerabilities with plane security.

While the story design is largely unavoidably predictable, the director nonetheless pulls off a huge amount of tension with some nice surprises and a fairly high degree of realism, and Gordon-Levitt was particularly good, balancing professional competence with a great deal of humanity as he struggles to deal with his horrifying situation.

7500 is criticized for its last act, where we get to learn more about the hijackers. They’re not exactly stereotypes, but their political aims are vague, and a hijacker we’re supposed to sympathize with and see the humanity of fails to come across as somebody we can truly understand and care about, at least that was my reaction. Some critics felt the film tries to get us to like one of them, though I didn’t see it that way. The film overall has a message that hate begets hate in a cycle, and real humanity is expressed by making it stop.

Overall, 7500 was surprisingly good. While its message again gets muddied and it’s unavoidably predictable, the immersion, tension, and excellent acting make it one to watch.