The End

¨The end is closer than you can imagine.¨

Fin (The End) is a Spanish film that was officially selected for the Toronto International Film Festival last year. It's a thriller that really never thrilled me and I was highly disappointed with this film because despite having an unknown director, Jorge Torregrossa (mostly known in Spain for directing TV series), the screenplay was adapted by two well known Spanish writers, Sergio Sanchez (The Orphanage) and Jorge Guerricaechevarria (Cell 211), who have written some great screenplays. It was not the case with The End because one of the weakest aspects about this film for me was the script which never managed to create likable characters or believable situations. If you are going to make a thriller you better back it up with a decent story, but here they never explain the strange developments. This could have worked perhaps as a TV series, but in a 90 minute movie we never got to care for any of the characters and what we really wanted to know never was explained. The End is one of those films that tries to be all philosophical but never ends up saying anything at all. It doesn't reward the viewer for their patience. The film was adapted from David Monteagudo's novel which I have never read and really don't want to after watching this. I imagine it never explains any of the strange events occurring either. There are about nine actors in the entire film and we never really care for any of them. The only positive thing I can say about this movie is that it was nicely shot thanks to the beautiful landscape chosen as the setting for the story.

The plot is pretty simple; a group of friends decide to reunite after 20 years in a beautiful mountain cabin. This group of friends seem to have been really tight, but something happened in their past that has separated them and continues to haunt them. Sara (Carmen Ruiz) is the one who decided to reunite the group for the weekend after calling each one of them. Sergio (Miguel Fernandez) decides to go with his apparent girlfriend Eva (Clara Lago), while Maribel (Maribel Verdu) goes with her husband Rafa (Antonio Garrido). Maribel and Sergio had a relationship in the past, but haven't seen each other since the episode 20 years ago. Felix (Daniel Grao), the Casanova of the group, is dating Cova (Blanca Romero). Everything seems to be just fine as the group is laughing together as they camp outside, but Sara is worried that their friend known as the prophet (Eugenio Mira) hasn't showed up. The reason she is so worried is because he was the one that convinced her to call everyone because he wanted to see them. Apparently the prophet was the reason why the group broke up in the first place after he suffered a severe seizure and began prophesying about the end of the world. He was institutionalized, but Sara said he was recovering very well and that is why she insisted on everyone meeting again. Around midnight a strange incident involving a thundering noise and lightning takes place, which leaves the place without lights or communication. The vehicles don't work either as apparently some strange magnetism has affected them. All of a sudden some of them begin to vanish and no one knows what is going on.

The plot seems pretty interesting but believe me the film isn't. The director never takes time to explain the strange events, and the back stories of each character are never explained clearly. The reason why the group disintegrated 20 years ago is really poorly developed and doesn't make much sense really. I was really disappointed with this and expected more considering the plot seemed pretty inventive. This is just another failed attempt at a thriller which really never has any thrills. The cast in this film doesn't stand out either. The only well known actress here is Maribel Verdu, but she doesn't play an important role. The entire mystery and eeriness of the film is never explained at all which made me feel like everything was a complete waste of time. We see the events unfolding before our eyes, but we are never explained why these things are occurring. The End just felt pointless for me and I wouldn't recommend this film.

After twenty years, Sara (Carmen Ruiz) invites her friends to reunite again in the same isolated cabin where they met for the last time. Félix (Daniel Grao) goes with the younger escort Eva (Clara Lago) posing of his girlfriend; his ex-girlfriend Maribel (Maribel Verdú) leaves her two children with her mother and travels with her husband Rafa (Antonio Garrido); the wolf Hugo (Andrés Velencoso) travels with his wife Cova (Blanca Romero); the lonely pothead Sergio (Miquel Fernández) travels alone. Sara is worried since their friend Ángel "Prophet" (Eugenio Mira) has not arrived yet. There is a secret about something that happened twenty years ago with the prophet that was the reason to keep them apart.

During the night, the group is around a bonfire and Ángel never shows up, and Sara discloses that it was Ángel's idea to gather his friends on that day. Out of the blue, there is a lighting followed by thunder and all the power is cut – batteries of cellular have run down; the cars have flat batteries and the group argues. Soon Eva learns that twenty years ago, Ángel was forced to consume drugs that have seriously affected him. He became violent and started to foresee the end of the world, ending in an asylum. None of his friends but Sara has ever visited him in the institution, and they first believe that Ángel has plotted an evil scheme against them. One the next morning, Rafa vanishes and they believe he has walked to the nearby town and the group decides to do the same. But soon, each one of them disappears in the end of the days.

"Fin" is an intriguing and very well acted Spanish thriller, with Maribel Verdú that is one of my favorite Spanish actresses and the unknown Clara Lago, one of the most beautiful new faces in the cinema industry. Unfortunately, the pointless conclusion gave me the same sensation I had when "Lost" ended. The writers succeeded in creating the engaging mystery but without any answer to the events but the simplistic explanation of the apocalyptic end of the world, with Eva apparently surviving. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Fim dos Tempos" ("End of the Times")

I got to check this film out at the Palm Springs Film Festival. The previous reviews I had read for this were pretty negative so I went into it with admittedly low expectations. So I was pleasantly surprised when I got out having enjoyed the film a great deal. The End follows a group of friends reuniting after 20 years at some property outside of civilization. As the movie progresses it creates a very tense atmosphere when unexplained events begin occurring. Without giving away too much I'll just say the film is more or less a Metaphysical Horror Film with more attention focused on what is happening as opposed to how it happens. It succeeds at creating a grand scope within a simple plot and settings. It is much better than it's current rating given on the site.

Usually, when there is a weak script, everything fall with it... But this movie is different. Even if the storyline is incomplete, or lack of imagination, the actors are so good that you still follow the adventure (without big expectations) until the end.

The cast is solid, the acting is flawless, the soundtrack is good, so... A script with a bit more originality would have made a very good movie.

Don't expect a kind of apocalyptic movie like The Road, or crude has HELL (Bright), but more of a soft philosophical end of time story, a reset of humanity.

But anyway, congratulations to the actors, you all did a very good job.

THE END is, as the title would suggest, a film about the apocalypse. At least, it appears to be about an apocalypse of sorts, but given that this is a film that offers zero explanation or indeed any kind of reasoning about what's actually happening, your guess is as good as mine.

The saving grace of the film is that it's superbly shot, with wonderful outdoor cinematography and lots of vibrant moments. The set-piece with the dogs is as beautifully shot a piece of cinema as I can recall. The plot is simple stuff, with a group of twentysomething friends heading out into the countryside for a get together when 'something' happens - something explosive, and devastating.

When people begin to disappear, things get really weird. The lack of explanations make this both frustrating and rather spooky. The characters are thinly-drawn and there's a little too much time spent on triviality, but for the most part this is an intriguing, quirky slice of science fiction, well made by those talented Spaniards.