The End of the Tour

This weekend my sister and I packed up my entire house!  This included 18 medium boxes of paperback books and 14 large boxes of hardbound books!  Why do I have so many books?  By the time Sunday rolled around, not only did every muscle in my body hurt, but I was in serious need of a distraction.  I ended up at the Broadway, my usual Sunday night destination (although I went to the early show because I am now in school), to see yet another movie that I tried, unsuccessfully, to see at Sundance.  I had heard so many great things about The End of the Tour so I was very eager to see it.  David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) is assigned to write a profile of the author David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) for Rolling Stone.  He joins Wallace for the last five days of his 1996 book tour for the epic novel Infinite Jest (which I tried, unsuccessfully, to read several years ago) and records their conversations.  The movie opens 12 years later with Lipsky hearing the news that Wallace has killed himself and then flashes back to the tour as Lipsky listens to the tapes.  Believe it or not, this film is quite riveting, despite the fact that much of it involves two men talking, because the two men are so complicated.  Wallace just wants to be an ordinary guy and worries that fame will turn him into the very thing he criticizes in his novels.  Lipsky is an ordinary guy and wants nothing more than to be a famous writer.  He is in awe of Wallace but Wallace knows that it it is only the persona of "famous writer" that he admires.  Both men are desperately lonely and are immediately drawn to each other, bonding over junk food, but they inevitably become combative in their roles as "interviewer" and "interviewee."  It is an intense examination of loneliness, fame, depression, and popular culture and I couldn't look away from the screen!  Both Segel and Eisenberg give extraordinary performances.  I was particularly impressed with Segel because I am not a fan of much of his previous work (I am an absolute snob when it comes to TV) and I underestimated him!   I sometimes grow weary of Eisenberg's twitchy-talk-as-fast-as-you-can-in-a-monotone-voice characterization but it works in this role. The soundtrack is fabulous and features a score by Danny Elfman and songs by R.E.M.  (I think all soundtracks should feature R.E.M.).  I'm not sure that this movie is for everyone, but I found it fascinating!

Note:  After I see Meru and Mistress America, which both come out next weekend at the Broadway, I think I will have checked off everything on my Sundance wish list!