The End We Start From

The End We Start From hadn't been on my radar before and the trailer didn't give a huge amount away. I had no expectations but it wasn't a bad little film. It had a made for TV style and was clearly produced on a low budget. If you are expecting epic disaster or dramatic dystopian events then you will be disappointed. If you enjoyed 28 Days Later or How I Live Now then The End We Start From should be an enjoyable watch for you, although both those films are better than this. Jodie Comer is quite captivating but I feel like her big starring film role is yet to come. Luckily it wasn't overlong so it didn't drag on.

This is Jody Comer's film throughout: the camera hardly leaves her from start to finish. Its a low-budget disaster/dystopia movie with some obvious references to climate change and how it could impact on ordinary people and society. The End We Start From isn't a classic disaster movie with overused CGI, a cast of thousands and a budget running into several hundred millions (thankfully) Its an insular, intimate portrait of one woman and her newly born baby trying to survive a terrible natural disaster and on this level, it largely works.

Comer gets some sterling, if fleeting acting support from Joel Fry, Katherine Waterson, Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Strong, yet every scene is a platform for her acting ability. Sometimes she says nothing at all, just shows some wonderful maternal love and support for her infant and displays a naturalistic presence in the face of hopelessness.

The movie itself is sparse to say the least. It just about gets across the message of how things could be in this type of situation. However, many scenes are far too abstract and simplistic. A little more context is required, even just a background radio giving out emergency bulletins or a broken road sign along a soggy road to give some geographical placing. Society breaks down, as it inevitably would and the Brits show their legendary stoicism, but it's all on one level, not much horror and no humour - both essential in any successful disaster, dystopian movie; it borders on the boring.

In the end the excellent Comer pulls it through.

A woman tries to find her way home with her newborn while an environmental crisis submerges London in floodwaters.

I think this film does not know what it wants to be. It's very pretentious, with lots of sombre scenes that don't mean anything, to a far-too-loud score that is overly dramatic, to interactions that don't really mean anything.

It hints at times of the breakdown of society, and the lack of Govt strategy to deal with the problem, and the stoical resolve some people show in getting back to normal. But they are inferred by me rather than implied by the film. I think if the film has a point then it is only one that was invented by the watcher to make sense of it.

The acting isn't too bad throughout but I don't think they really have much to work with. There's very little dialogue and much of what there is can be confusing. Interactions between people seem to be standalone murals which the director hopes look impressive but have no real connection to the story. There's also some very weak plot lines which seem to go nowhere and it feels as if they were just an idea that didn't last.

I watched it simply because Jody Comer put her name to it and I expected it to shine because of her but sadly, I think she picked a pig in a poke with this one.

It's not vile, it's not dire, it's simply not very good. The worst thing is it is tedious and monotonous including having to turn the volume down all the time for the silly soundtrack and then back up again for the dialogue.

It's not the worst film I've ever seen but I won't ever feel the need to watch it again.

Society is thrown into chaos after a natural disaster, a woman faces a huge challenge to keep her new born baby safe.

It's a film that's hard to hate, but virtually impossible to love, it promised so much, but offered relatively little.

It's a disaster story, but not a disaster movie, the focus is very much on the mother, and motherhood, we learn relatively noting about the disaster, it's just a talking point for that most part.

You can't argue with the acting, Jodie Comer and Joel Fry are both very good, but the script could have been a little sharper, and a bit more interesting, it's a little disjointed.

It's watchable, it has some interesting elements, but ultimately it was a little disappointing, and that ending, it reminded me of that hilarious ending from The Day after tomorrow.

Mehhh.

6/10.

I had been putting off watching The End We Start From for a few months, only because I knew that I needed to be in the right state of mind to take it all in.

I was not left disappointed. This British Indie disaster film is so quiet and understated, I can imagine if it had been done in America, it would have been quite over the top.

Jodie Comer is brilliant as a mother trying to get herself and her baby through the flooding disaster that has hit the UK. Separated from her partner she battles to keep them safe and battles with her memories to try and let go.

This is honestly an extraordinary film. I highly recommend it.