“The End of the Tour” is an A24 film which dramatizes the rolling stone interview of David Foster Wallace, conducted by David Lipsky. The interview is happening in the wake of Wallace’s “Infinite Jest” becoming a nation wide sensation, while Lipsky is struggling to become an artist on the scale of Wallace. The film explores the themes of the novel as the two writers form their version of a friendship.

If art is meant to be moving, it seems like it must by relatable to its interpreter. For whatever reason, this thought reminds me of those pictures of starving children. Don’t get me wrong, those images evoke emotion, mainly in the form of guilt, or pity, or even despair, but they have never moved me. Simply due to the fact that I have never experienced the feeling of literally starving. This film resonated with me, moved me, to an extent that I don’t think another piece of art ever has.

I have always been amazed and intrigued by the works of David Foster Wallace which I have come across. I think he has an unmatched ability to talk about the really important and confusing parts of life in an accessible and intuitive way. He understands that life is not about discovering some hidden meaning. He knows that quest is asking far too much. He shows his audiences that life is simply about living, and doing that simple task in a way that lets you get up and do it again the next day.

It is very difficult for me to separate the themes of the film from the themes of Wallace’s body of work, so I am forced to believe these themes are one in the same. Jason Segel’s character repeatedly brings up loneliness and its role in “American culture”, and its seemingly out-of-placeness in a society that is filled with highly educated individuals, with stimulating and challenging careers, who still struggle for meaning. His indictment of American society shows that large portions of this nation successful tick all of the tasks which we are told will make a good life, yet it seems that every single one of us falls short.

The two main characters of David Foster Wallace and David Lipsky spend the entire movie bonding and arguing over the realness and, at times, “faux”-ness that their conversation pulls out of them. To me, these conversations force the viewer to examine their own relationships and pass times.

This film is an examination of the potency with which one ought to live. It is so easy to be distracted in this modern world. It is so easy to find superficial connection. But it can be so difficult to understand one’s own meaning in a culture which swears that to live is to consume. David Foster Wallace wishes only to be accepted as a regular guy. Of course he is a brilliant writer. Of course he is of above average intelligence. But he explicitly warns against the dangers of looking into the eyes of another being and seeing them as anything less than incredibly complex and troubled in their own ways.

I love this film because I love the way it talks talks about self-actualization. We do not need to accomplish monumental tasks, or know ourselves completely. It is impossible to find the exact right words for every moment. But it only takes a conscious choice to become conscious. This movie motivates me to feel my own emotions, to be genuine in my dealings with others, and to release those judgements which feel like they come so naturally. As the inspiration for the film tells us: “Of Course, You End up Becoming Yourself.”