The End
The End
The End: One of the things I like most about festivals is that you go and enter the cinema and do not know practically anything about the film. If one thinks of actually going to the festival, he knows it is pointless to search for trailers or screenshots, because the films are just too unreleased. So in that case, no expectations too! The downside of this is that, especially when I go looking forward to some movie which I think would be interesting, it turns out that I know from the first few minutes that it is not a movie for me. And sure enough, ao é o México, who cares about this film in the first place.
Yes, The End was not for your attention Oh no. And even though I am always looking for the next big apocalypse movie and find the concept (as well as the cast of the film) – alluring, The End turned out to be hard push to get through, as it is the directorial debut of the documentarist Joshua Oppenheimer. The roles of the extremely affluent family’s husband and wife who sheltered themselves in an enormous subterranean stronghold during what appears to be another ice age are portrayed by Michael Shannon and Tilda Swinton.
To this day they have been joined by their somewhat simple son (George McKay) who has lived his entire life inside the bunker, a rather ill-tempered doctor (Lennie James), a friend who is also a cook (Bronagh Gallagher) and their butler (Tim McInnerny).
It is true there is some form of hierarchy but as it is, none of them have major qualms about living within the walls of the fortress with “father” (since no one has actual names its simple) as portrayed by Shannon being a rather generous dictator though hes alluded to being responsible for the collapse of the human race. Mother as played by Tilda, is more of a burden being someone who is not only very OCD about this fake life she has cultivated for herself before the catastrophe, the huge amount of artwork that she owns, and her child whom she purposely wants to be stunted in growth. Nevertheless, it is something everyone accommodates.
The balance of power is disrupted when a young girl (Moses Ingram from Obi-Wan Kenobi) comes looking for refuge. Mother is the only one who objects to the admittance of the girl. With all the right intentions and making an effort to be a part of the household, her relationship with one of the Mothers sons causes an uncomfortable disruption to the fragile hierarchy that exists within their cocoon.
None of this sounds like it lends itself to a musical does it? Oppenheimer’s greatest feat is that the film is a full-fledged musical with songs by Joshua Schmidt and Marius de Vries. If you have watched any of Oppenheimer’s documentaries, for example The Act of Killing, then you know that one of his films is nontraditional, and the same goes for The End. This is a kind of brave film that will certainly build a strong fan base when Distributors Neon releases the film, but one can not deny that this is a kind of love it or hate it film.
Honestly, The End I could do without; it’s not that there was only the music. The film has an almost unbearable 150-minute length and the performances (particularly what Swinton does) are delivered in such excess that you will most likely have regrets spending two and a half hours with these people. Out of everyone, Moses Ingram, acting the most ‘normal’ of the characters is least annoying, though Shannon has his bright spots (he has a nice singing voice as proven in the ever-overlooked George & Tammy). This is especially true when he is seen in contact with a manservant who was portrayed by Tim McInnerny, who has a rather beautiful song and acts rather limited.
The fact is, Oppenheimer most likely shot exactly the movie he intended to shoot and although not my cup of tea, I have no doubt that it will find a section of the audiences someday. Indeed, it’s beautifully shot, and the production design is astonishing. But I would bet that the greater majority of the people reading this will struggle with it, even if it has its fair share of brilliant sequences.
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- Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Sci-fic
- Country: Denmark, Ireland, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, United States, Sweden
- Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
- Cast: Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, Lennie James