Oklahoma! and "I'm Thinking of Ending Things"

Well, I went in blind, foolishly assuming it would be a romantic drama, a la A Marriage Story. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. That was quite a mindf*ck. I've read a bunch of articles about it, and now I have a better grasp on what I just spend 2 hours watching. As I'm not as familiar with the other book/movie/etc. references, I really latched onto the Oklahoma! parts. I'm curious as to how people who are not familiar with the musical interpret it. Probably the way I interpret the film and book references... I kind of wish I knew at least what genre I was expecting, but I love going into films (and plays and books) blind. I'm going to look up Kaufman's work - I'm sure I've seen some of his other films, but I'm not familiar with him as a director.

CT2NYC said: "I thought thefilmwas brilliant and unsettling, andthis articledoes a great job of explaining it. I hadn’t read the original novel, so it definitely helped put the pieces together, and now I’m interested in revisiting it.Spoilers abound, so read only after you’ve watched:

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/09/im-thinking-of-ending-things-ending-explained-book-oklahoma"

Thanks so much for that article. I watched the film yesterday and enjoyed it very much (the performances, the mystery of it), but I definitely didn't understand it. This reading makes a lot of sense.

Watched this the other night and have been thinking about the Oklahoma! references a lot. It seems to me that the majority of this film was a retelling of the dream ballet, with Jessie Buckley's character being Laurey and using her indecisiveness about the relationship to be mirrored in Laurey's indecisiveness about Jud and Curly. I love how they slowly change Jake from a standard protagonist (Curly) into a pseudo-antagonist (Jud) by the end, clearly done in its final moments. Hard to talk without giving away spoilers, but I found it all fascinating.