Based upon the memoir Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky
Screenplay Written by Donald Margulies
Directed by James Ponsoldt
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
RATED R
"Was it good 4 U?/Was I what U wanted me 2 be?"
-Prince
"Controversy"
It continues to amaze me how a person's legend and our perception of that legend affects how we all then perceive the work that created that legend in the first place.
Dear readers, I have never read the late David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, his enormously celebrated, encyclopedic 1,079 page novel (including footnotes) which not only earned the praise of literary critics but also the ever continuing notoriety which has also earned (or maybe has saddled) the novel with the reputation of being one of the finest books ever written. There was a time in my life, mostly during my 20's, when I would have relished a certain challenge with taking on the experience of reading such a lengthy, labyrinthine book but when it came to Infinite Jest, I always found myself pausing. During my then frequent visits to bookstores (ah memories), Wallace's tome was indeed a book I picked up, paged through and placed back down upon the bookshelves time and again and eventually, I gave up on the prospect and moved onwards. Perhaps the legend of the book was just too much for me to handle, jointly in regards to the book's mounting reputation and perceived difficulty as well as the level and quality of Wallace's actual writing, which I may have feared would be so superlative that any dreams I had been housing about pursuing any sort of prose writing on my own would have been painfully extinguished.
Those thoughts, long relegated to the deep recesses of my mind, came flooding back to the forefront as I viewed Director James Ponsoldt's striking and surprisingly visceral conversation piece "The End Of The Tour," a film that visualizes the relationship between David Foster Wallace (beautifully portrayed by Jason Segel) and Rolling Stone journalist David Lipsky (an equally riveting Jesse Eisenberg), who is assigned to interview the mercurial writer at the tail end of his Infinite Jest book tour. As the mega blockbuster films have all come and gone, nearly obliterating every other film within their collective paths, I urge you to head out and see this film as soon as you are able for you will indeed be handsomely rewarded with a briskly paced film that is filled with a level of richly textured performances, writing and direction that I sincerely feel will prove inspiring, whether in reading, in being creative or just in provoking a return to the art of interpersonal, face-to-face conversation in the 21st century.
"The End Of The Tour" opens in 2008, with David Lipsky's shocked reaction to the news of David Foster Wallace's suicide. The film then flashbacks 12 years earlier, shortly after the release of Infinite Jest, as Lipsky exists as a struggling novelist and dissatisfied writer for Rolling Stone. Initially, Lipsky elicits a certain skepticism towards the mountainous praise heaped upon the novel yet soon becomes a passionate convert, so much so that he convinces the magazine to allow him to travel to Wallace's home base of Bloomington-Normal, IL, near the state university where Wallace teaches a writing course, for an exclusive interview--the first Author interview to be potentially published in Rolling Stone in ten years.
Upon Lipsky's arrival from New York to the icy, wintry Illinois, he is greeted with Wallace's guarded yet affably eccentric nature during which the twosome begin to forge a tenuous connection through lengthy conversations (peppered with both men's voraciously shared love of nicotine and sweets) about dogs, women (including Wallace's long running crush over Alanis Morissette), the addictive nature of television, the nature of high vs. low art, as well as poignantly deeper yet somewhat generalized ruminations over the pressures of fame, loneliness, isolation, self-identity, how the world views you in relation to how you see yourself and the need to somehow remain the same individual who created the art in mind and spirit, especially after all of the accolades, attention and the perceptions they create within readers eagerly awaiting whatever will arrive next. Only when Lipsky dares to probe the darker aspects of Wallace's past, from his alcoholism, a rumored bout with heroin and his self-imposed institutionalization during which he was placed on suicide watch, do interpersonal frictions arise between Lipsky and Wallace, thus not only threatening the status of the interview but also Lipsky's desired meeting of the literary spirit between himself and Wallace.
Eschewing poor motel lodgings, Lipsky accepts Wallace's invitation to stay in his guest room, while also accompanying him to Minneapolis for the final stop of the book tour, which includes a bookstore reading and signing, an NPR interview, a chirpy tour guide (played by Joan Cusack), and a visit with two of Wallace's female friends, former college classmate Becky (played by Mickey Sumner) and literary critic/writer Julie (played by Mamie Gummer). Over the course of the three days, both Lipsky and Wallace are challenged and faced with their own respective foibles, failures, perceptions and misconceptions about themselves and each other as they individually attempt to navigate precisely what it means to be successful and furthermore, true to oneself in a world where integrity is a decreasing level of currency.
James Ponsoldt's "The End Of The Tour" is a compelling, engrossing and often captivating interior drama that houses an especially mesmerizing duet of performances at the core. Much like his previous feature, the excellent teen drama "The Spectacular Now" (2013), Ponsoldt has expertly crafted a multi-layered film that crystallizes a specific place as well as point in time during which his main characters are forced to confront themselves before being able to emotionally move forwards in life, if at all. I also deeply appreciated Ponsoldt's commitment to truly enveloping the audience within the physical landscape of his film, especially immersing us in the weather, therefore cementing the elements to the moods of the story and characters. Where the hazy, languid, end of summer environment informed the simmering emotions and pivotal changes that awaited the characters of "The Spectacular Now," the frigid, bitter winter of Illinois performs the same feats for "The End Of The Tour," as both Wallace and Lipsky are as burrowed within the shells of their emotions as they are from the elements, cautiously revealing themselves only to quickly dart back into a self-imposed protective hibernation all over again.
Mostly, I felt that "The End Of The Tour" was a film experience that proudly exists somewhere in between Director Louis Malle's "My Dinner With Andre" (1981) and Writer/Director Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" (2000), as Ponsoldt has weaved a provocative cinematic fabric that is not driven by any sense of a prefabricated plot but actually is as much about ideas as it is about the characters themselves, making for the rare film that provoke and encourages discussion and debate long after you have exited the theater. Ponsoldt has given us the dual character study of two deeply complicated men which serves as a passionately intellectual dance that is superbly fascinating as it simultaneously functions as a vibrant meeting of the minds as well as an exploration of or own success and fame obsessed culture, a culture that certainly performs more damage than good, even in the world of literature. And to that end, the casting of Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel in the leading roles could not have been any more perfect.
In a peculiar yet somewhat ingenious fashion, it feels as if the performances of both Eisenberg and Segal within "The End Of The Tour" serve as the culmination of both of their screen personas thus far while also representing the figures they each portray within Ponsoldt's film. As David Lipsky is envisioned, he could almost be seen as the fully adult version of characters Jesse Eisenberg performed within Writer/Director Noah Baumbach's "The Squid And The Whale" (2005), Writer/Director Greg Mottola's "Adventureland" (2009) and certainly Director David Fincher's "The Social Network" (2010). While Lipsky is indeed intelligent and definitely skilled and talented enough to have written a novel and have it published as well, he remains internally unfulfilled as the cultural indifference to his written work, plus the Rolling Stone features that he feels are beneath his talents, have unearthed an increasingly aggressive level of competition that houses his latent jealousy, fears of inadequacy as well as an undercurrent of rage, especially towards a figure like David Foster Wallace who seemingly arrived out of nowhere to achieve the meteoric success that has eluded himself.
Taking all of those elements into consideration, it feels as if Lipsky's pursuit of Wallace contains increasingly muddled motivations of fan worship (just like the teenaged journalist in "Almost Famous," who mistakenly made friends with the rock stars) plus the disingenuous levels of competition, one-upsmanship and perhaps even attempting to discover that his interview subject is more than a bit of a fraud ("What's with the bandanna?" challenges Lipsky at one point). Throughout the film, Lipsky tries to emulate his subject (the chain smoking, for instance) while also trying to present a certain level of status that he perceives to be on an equal playing field as the celebrated author (for instance, Lipsky's compulsive need to utilize his Rolling Stone expense account as a completely inauthentic show-off tactic).
Through his behavior, which alternates from fawning to contentious, professional to cunning, David Lipsky blurs the lines between fan, journalist, critic and potential kindred spirit making for an interview and relationship that it more perilous and even duplicitous than necessary. Perhaps, some of that is due to the nature of the magazine journalism industry but we do often wonder just how much Lipsky is using Wallace for his own gain--as evidenced by the memoir from which this very film has been based. And even then, this realization provides the additional quandary of whether David Lipsky could have ever attained his level of fame and notoriety without David Foster Wallace in the first place. All extremely perceptive and compelling and Jesse Eisenbrg is equal to every moment.
As David Foster Wallace, Jason Segal has delivered his finest career performance to date. In addition to his eerie resemblance to the literary figure, Segal has triumphantly delved under the skin, providing seemingly effortless texture and depth in a beautifully understated fashion. I honestly know absolutely little to nothing about the real David Foster Wallace, but in regards to Segal's interpretation of him, I honestly took to this figure at face value despite all of David Lipsky's sly skepticism and jealousy.
For me, Segal's David Foster Wallace is a brilliant talent who is also remarkably self-aware about the completely unnatural aspect of his situation and has made a personal choice to remain as grounded as much as he is psychologically able. So, by choice, he remains in Illinois instead of relocating to the pop cultural hotbed of New York. He lives within a completely unassuming home, which Lipsky describes as being a bit of a "frat house," alone with two dogs, and close relationships are at a minimum, also perhaps by choice. His dress is Midwestern sloppy, all layered, baggy clothing with his ever present bandanna covering long, seemingly unwashed hair. He is indeed conversational, ready to engage in a wide variety of subject matter, but he does remain trepidacious with how much he is willing to reveal and even finds the nature of interviews themselves to be nothing more than falsifying works created to deliver public personas that may or may not be true. In fact, Wallace at one point even (jokingly?) suggests that Lipsky can write his article but he should send it to Wallace so that he can re-write all of his quotes, while at other points, Wallace is completely dismissive of the entire enterprise.
While Lipsky questions whether his appearance, and soft spoken nature is nothing more than an affectation that only enhances his public persona and belies his formidable intelligence and talent, Wallace is more than aware of those perceptions of him. As I watched "The End Of The Tour," I felt that Wallace was being presented not as a figure who was entirely cultivating a public image that ties in with this impossible novel...even though he is, to an extent, as he is indeed savvy enough to understand the nature of the beast in the fishbowl of celebrity.
Mostly, I felt that all of his mannerisms and motivations were a means of self preservation, as he is indeed a fragile, sensitive soul, while blessed with an intense talent, he also carries his internal baggage of addiction and depression. It was almost as if we were watching an adult version of Nick Andopolis, Segal's perpetually stoned yet deeply sensitive character from television's "Freaks And Geeks," someone who was/is repeatedly finding and losing his way, trying to remain sane and a good soul along the way. So perhaps, trying to remain and exist as simply as possible is Wallace's means of maintaining his sense of self and integrity in a world that would tear him down even faster than they built him upwards and touted him as a literary genius.
David Foster Wallace's self-awareness is so precise that we can even gather that while he will play the celebrity game, he will do it only to a point. And he is also wise enough to realize that whatever celebrity has been granted to him, it can not only vanish even faster, but would that very cult of personality even taint the integrity of Infinite Jest to boot? Are people reading, and therefore continuing to read Infinite Jest in 2015 because of the inherent quality of the material and Wallace's skills as a writer or it everything tied into Wallace's persona and legacy? Even David Lipsky's arrival for the interview feels false because why else would Rolling Stone magazine even wish to speak with him if not for his (then) current status as golden goose, and whatever rewards they would receive in turn for hitching their train to his? For a creative person and soul like David Foster Wallace, it would seem very likely that all of these conundrums about who is real and false within the widening canvas of his world (which is of course making him feel even smaller), would amount to an extremely confounding and painful hall of mirrors, when all he wishes is to just be left alone to create freely and Jason Segal's expertly pitched performance won me over instantly and completely.
After "The End Of The Tour" concluded, I found myself actually walking into a nearby bookstore just to see if any copies of Infinite Jest happened to be available for me to page through once again, especially as I could not even fathom a memory as to what the thing was about in the first place. Unfortunately, the book was not upon the shelf, but within the "Wallace" section of the fiction bookshelves, there was indeed an open space, perhaps freshly open, and just large enough for that book to have been housed inside of. I figured that since the release of the film, interest in the novel had resurfaced, therefore making my inquiry (and anyone else's) suspect as would our collective interest have been as organic as it could have been? Yet, on the other hand, does any of that even matter if Wallace's words are being read at all?
This is the true satisfaction of James Ponsoldt's "The End Of The Tour," a film that is as wise as it is entertaining and heartfelt. At one point in the film, David Lipsky suggests that if the written work is the true representation of the author, then perhaps reading the book is a way of meeting the author without having to meet the author in person. And if this terrific film does indeed push me to finally come in contact with the literary work, and quite possibly, an idea of the humanity of David Foster Wallace, organic or no, I think it would have all been worth the time and the journey to find him.
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