The End of the Tour (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.'
4 connections found
View:
4 films that influenced The End of the Tour
What critics say influenced The End of the Tour
Actually, The End of the Tour is a sequel to Almost Famous because it is about another Rolling Stone writer getting embedded with a celebrity.
(To some extent, the film plays like a literary cousin to Almost Famous , demonstrating the journalistic perils of getting too close to your interview subjects.)
The two writers profiled in this Almost Famous for the literary set are frequently seen in cars, crossing wintry landscapes while talking.
Like Almost Famous, Ponsoldt’s film gets at something deep and true about the journalist/subject dynamic and the phony intimacy and tiny betrayals implicit in it.
There is truth to Lester Bangs’ advice in Almost Famous, ‘you cannot make friends with the rock stars’, but The End of the Tour echoes Bangs’ other line more, ‘the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool.’
But most of it is about conversation, arranged by director James Ponsoldt (“The Spectacular Now”) as a series of deceptively plain long takes and shot-reverse shots.
Subtly adapted by Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Donald Margulies as a tenuous yet intense relationship/character study, it’s deftly directed by James Ponsoldt (“Smashed,” “The Spectacular Now”), whose casting is spot-on.
It matters, I think, that both actors are working writers as well, and that director Ponsoldt (”The Spectacular Now”) has served time in the trenches of entertainment reportage.
A clever, gently provocative movie about talking, listening and competing interests, "The End of the Tour" is a two-character play that managed to hitch a ride as a road movie directed by James Ponsoldt, whose previous films include "The Spectacular Now" and "Smashed."
Directed by James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now), the film dramatizes the now-famous five-day interview between young Rolling Stone writer David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) and novelist David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel), during the final few days of Wallace’s promotional tour for his 1996 dystopian masterwork, Infinite Jest.
It serves as yet another signal that the director of "The Spectacular Now" is a sensitive filmmaker who's most at home with complicated characters.
The spare but expressive frames and winter light are by Swedish cinematographer Jakob Ihre, who shot Joachim Trier’s exquisite first features, “Reprise” and “Oslo August 31st.”
Over the course of five days, Lipsky will be invited to stay at Wallace's home (in a room dwarfed by towering stacks of books), attend one of Wallace's writing classes at Illinois State, and accompany him to Minneapolis, the last stop of a book tour where they are shepherded around by Patty (Joan Cusack) and meet up with Dave's ex Betsy (Mickey Sumner, "Frances Ha") and book industry fan Julie (Mamie Gummer, TV's 'Extant').
Mostly a two-hander, there’s some great feminine relief from male ego in Joan Cusack (a scene stealer as usual), Mamie Gummer , Mickey Sumner from “Frances Ha,” and Anna Chlumsky ( Ron Livingston shows up briefly as well).