El último tour

In 1996 David Foster Wallace's 1079-page novel Infinite Jest hit the literary scene like a rocket. The publisher's marketing efforts meant the book was everywhere, but the man himself—shy, full of self-doubt, not wanting to be trapped into any literary poseur moments and seeing them as inevitable—was difficult to read. This movie uses a tyro journalist's eye to probe Wallace during an intense five days of interviewing toward the end of the Infinite Jest book tour. As a tryout writer for Rolling Stone, reporter David Lipsky had begged for the assignment to write a profile of Wallace, which ultimately the magazine never published. But the tapes survived, and after Wallace's suicide in 2008 they became the basis for Lipsky's 2010 book, Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, which fed David Margulies screenplay. The plot of the movie is minimal; instead, it's a deep exploration of character. It may just be two guys talking, but I found it tectonic. Director James Ponsoldt has brought nuanced, intelligent performances from his two main actors—Jason Segel as Wallace and Jesse Eisenberg as reporter David Lipsky. Lipsky is a novelist himself, with a so-so book to his credit. Wallace has reached the heights, and what would it take for Lipsky to scramble up there too? Jealousy and admiration are at war within him and, confronted with Wallace's occasional oddness, one manifestation of which is the attempt to be Super-Regular Guy—owning dogs, eating junk food, obsessively watching television—he isn't sure what to feel. You see it on his face. Is Lipsky friend or foe? He's not above snooping around Wallace's house or chatting up his friends to nail his story. Lipsky rightly makes Wallace nervous, the tape recorder makes him nervous; he amuses, he evades, he delivers a punch of a line, he feints. When the going gets too rough, Lipsky falls back on saying, "You agreed to the interview," and Wallace climbs back in the saddle, as if saying to himself, just finish this awful ride, then back to the peace and solitude necessary actually to write. In the meantime, he is, as A. O. Scott said in his New York Times review, "playing the role of a writer in someone else's fantasy." The movie's opening scene delivers the fact of the suicide, which by design looms over all that follows, in the long flashback to a dozen years earlier and the failed interview. You can't help but interpret every statement of Wallace's through that lens. The depression is clear. He's been treated for it and for alcoholism, from which he seems to have recovered. The two Davids walk on the snow-covered farm fields of Wallace's Illinois home and talk about how beautiful it is, but it is bleak, and even in as jam-packed an environment as the Mall of America Wallace's conversation focuses on the emptiness at the heart of life. Yet his gentle humor infuses almost every exchange, and Lipsky can be wickedly funny too. Wallace can't help but feel great ambivalence toward Lipsky; he recognizes Lipsky's envy and his hero-worship, and both are troubling. He felt a truth inside himself, but he finds it almost impossible to capture and isn't sure he has, saying, "The more people think you're really great, the bigger your fear of being a fraud is." Infinite Jest was a widely praised literary success, but not to Wallace himself.

"The End of the Tour" is a hard-sell of a movie. While it features Jesse Eisenberg (whose career have been very hot) and Jason Segal and you'd think the film would have mass appeal, it clearly does not. This isn't a complaint--many of the films I really enjoy are really not the sorts of films that would entertain the most viewers. Instead, it's a film for a narrow audience and if you think you might be among those who would appreciate the movie, by all means watch it. After all, you will see some very nice acting and the story improves and gains momentum as the film progresses.

The story is about an odd sort of interview that took place when David Lipsky (Eisenberg) of Rolling Stone Magazine hung out with literary star David Foster Wallace (Segal) for several days back in the late 1990s. Cutting right to the chase, the film begins with the announcement that Wallace committed suicide and the film is a flashback as Lipsky remembers the strange and very lengthy meeting the two had back in 1996. As I said, this lasted days as the two just hung out together and talked...making it far different than a typical magazine interview.

As far as what they talk about and the themes of their meeting go, this really isn't something I can really explain very well in a review-- you just need to see it and experience it. Instead, I would rather try to convey the style of their time together on the film. It feels like you are a fly on the wall as two intellectuals talk and talk and talk....and talk. Wallace generally presents more as an 'Every Man' sort of guy while Lipsky seems, at times, as if he's trying to impress his new friend with his intellectual prowess. What all this means...well, that's really up to the viewer.

The bottom line is that if you really like action films, this film's is probably not for you. If you love 'literature' as opposed to just reading a book for enjoyment, this movie might be exactly what you'd love to see. As for me, I think I'm in the middle on this one. I can really respect the acting as well as the filmmakers' desire to make a quality picture as opposed to a mass-marketed film. But, on the other hand, the film is slow and very deliberate. It also took a while until I really stared to appreciated it...and I'm not if I ever exactly enjoyed it.

We're currently attending a film festival and this is one of the featured films. My first indication that this might be more than I expected was the line of young people, including many young women, who were interested in getting what amounts to stand by tickets for the showing that featured an after movie panel discussion with Jason Segel and the director, James Ponsoldt. Now, I only know of Segel's work and haven't seen much of it. He isn't a particular attraction for me, but after seeing this movie, I'm quite sold on his ability especially when nurtured by the sensibilities of Mr Ponsoldt. The director read Mr Wallace's greatest work 'Infinite Jest' back when it first came out to huge success and makes sure you get a glimpse of the man's ability and charm.

Probably the only unfortunate part of all this is that this movie is not going to have wide appeal. It is almost exclusively about the real life meeting between a Rolling Stone journalist and newly minted super-author David Foster Wallace, back in the 90s. As such it is almost all dialog meant to convey a sense of Mr Wallace's breadth of knowledge about popular culture and his imagination.

There's little drama or action here in the usual sense. Still Mr Segel is most effective in breathing life into the man such that you would love to have known him. Even his co-star, Jesse Eisenberg, who I don't usually warm up to, is quite up to the task at hand, i.e., sparring with the great author to get the real man down on paper.

I loved the film, but I must make special mention that, for a film filled with dialog, for once, I caught every word. There was no asking my wife, what did he say? Why can't every film be as carefully constructed?

The End of The Tour was a beautifully done movie that will not be widely seen or even heard of. This movie doesn't have explosions, or side splitting humor, or sex, or anything that sells in Hollywood these days. What this movie does have is a well written plot with fantastic dialogue, a great story, wonderful performances, and thought provoking themes that make you ponder what is really important. The End of The Tour is about the five day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky, and acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace (played by Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel). This five day interview took place right after the 1996 publication of Wallace's epic 1,000 page novel called Infinite Jest. An interview that would later turn out to be never published and not really heard about until Wallace's 2008 suicide. During this interview, we get to see inside what it is like between the two men. Like I said earlier, this movie asks a lot of deeper questions that will leave you thinking. Questions like what is really important? If I am unhappy right now, will having what someone has change that? That even being famous and looked upon by the public doesn't really make you truly happy. We have seen this time and time again with famous celebrities that everyone thinks has it all together, give it all away because of depression and loneliness. This movie does an excellent job of portraying that. My only critique about this movie is that you never really get to know the character David who was doing the interview. They allude to deeper issues within him but never dive into them and expose them. Average Man Score: 8/10

Welcome inside the mind of David Foster Wallace. He's a peculiar man. He thinks he's a regular man, when he knows that he's a genius. He hates being a genius, and he hates being a regular guy. His life is as meandering as his dialogs recorded by David Lipsky. The End of the Tour feels more like a documentary, than dramatized narrative feature. So in effect, this movie is as real as it gets about David Foster Wallace. It's all about the acting here, and it shines. Jason Segel was born to play DFW. He proves to us that he is more than a series of cheap shots at his naked body. Here, he doesn't strip himself of his clothes, he strips himself of his emotions. I hope award season treats him very kindly. It's so natural, and easygoing, and pays a respect to Richard Linklater in tone. It's a scatterbrained wonder, a good film to watch on a lazy day.