When You Finish Saving the World

When You Finish Saving the World is the epitome of an actor's directorial debut since it focuses on complicated people and their messy relationships. It's a film about appreciating the people right in front of you and respecting their success regardless of if you understand it that's hindered by the characters' inhospitable nature, making it a deliberately frustrating watch even at less than 90 minutes long.

The two leads are almost too good at nailing their characters and how they deliver every single line of dialogue. Julianne Moore is very convincing as someone who is way too literal and spends most of her day checked out until she finds something to obsess over and then goes too far in the other direction. Finn Wolfhard is equally convincing as an awkward self-obsessed teenager and it says a lot that their best scene together is without dialogue.

It's really impressive how obvious it is that this has been written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg. The intentionally awkward and specific dialogue matches some of his previous performances as well as fitting the tone. There's a few nice shots but this is a film that puts performances front and centre. However, his greatest strength as writer & director is in how satisfying the ending is as everything finally goes quiet and lets a moment sink in.