The End of the Tour

Early on in "The End of the Tour," Jesse Eisenberg, playing author David Lipsky, is led to a guestroom by Jason Segel, playing literary wunderkind David Foster Wallace. As the two fumble their way through saying goodnight, Lipsky -- no, Eisenberg -- makes a slight intimation: he offers to shake Segel's hand. The gesture lasts a millisecond. I almost missed it; Director James Ponsoldt's camera almost missed it too; Segel missed it completely, and the instant he turns away, Eisenberg plays it off like it's nothing intentional, no one saw anything.

Screenwriter Donald Margulies rearranges the transcript of Lipsky's memoir on which this movie is based so that purportedly real conversation is outlined and improvised for dramatic effect. This particular interaction -- not the scene itself, but the awkward handshake thing -- is noteworthy because it isn't plucked from Lipsky's book, and it isn't from Margulies' script-it's all Eisenberg, and clearly so. He might be typecast as an impersonal intellectual for the rest of his career, but his microscopic care of the character is a clue that Jesse Eisenberg isn't phoning it in.

Shooting took only twenty-five days, so bonus material is limited, but heartfelt. A brief sit-down with composer Danny Elfman is somewhat enlightening, though I'm sure a more comprehensive interview exists in the annals of other Blu-ray extras; Jason Segel, James Ponsoldt and David Margulies offer a lively commentary track; and the making-of featurette, "Behind the Tour," details a surprisingly punishing shoot in Michigan, battling record-breaking cold and searching for period-appropriate cars circa 1996. (Producer James Dahl, charged with the hunt, bitterly refers to these elusive vehicles as "shit-boxes".)

And then there's Eisenberg, who appears in only one interview. In contrast with other members of the cast -- Ponsoldt muses on the project as a labor of love; Ron Livingston, channeling David Attenborough, speaks with spiritual reverence of the subject matter while trudging through snow -- Eisenberg's demeanor is that of a surgeon after a delicate procedure: Serious, business-like, but cautiously optimistic. "This is one of those special movies that comes along very rarely," he says dourly, "where you feel like you're acting the whole time, and not sitting around and waiting for -- uh, ya know -- somebody to load the fake gun." I suppose that means the prognosis is good.

"The End of the Tour"
Blu-ray
$19.99
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