The End of the Tour
A conversational drama tinged with humor in the vein of Linklater’s Before Sunset or My Dinner with Andre, The End of the Tour is a movie in which not much appears to happen and indeed in terms of plot, next to nothing actually does. It starts in 2008 when David Foster Wallace took his own life and then brings us back to the five days in 1996 David Lipsky spent with him for a Rolling Stone cover story. The two men talk about fast food, getting laid, Alanis Morissette, and fret over what’s off limits for the interview. Lipsky, himself a novelist (played by Jesse Eisenberg) can barely conceal his envy of the success Wallace (Jason Segel, in a genius casting decision) had suddenly attained with Infinite Jest. Wallace for his part can barely cope with it. A profound character study and a haunting depiction of modern loneliness that celebrity can’t cure, director James Ponsoldt’s The End of the Tour was the year’s most warmly, endearing surprise and an unflashy triumph.