The End

I went in with an open mind and the expectation that I might be about to watch something unconventional. The post apocalyptic bunker premise I found very intriguing and the cast were impressive given the film had such little publicity. Tilda Swinton has been involved in some really unique independent films over the last 5 years, and although I've not enjoyed them all, it's still a strong indication that if she's attached the film will at least be inventive

The End certainly isn't like anything I've seen before, but unfortunately I didn't find it an enjoyable 2.5 hours. It's a small cast working in a relatively small space delivering the story through words rather than action. This makes it feel drawn out, with just not enough variety to keep me engaged.

The singing was a surprise and is happening almost straight away once the film starts. The instrumental music was very stirring and big, but the songs were too slow paced for my taste. They didn't seem to be used to drive forward the plot or share any important new character details other than what you could otherwise pick up from dialogue and there were a lot.

I did enjoy the acting and the setting and I also thought some of the themes and metaphor was potentially interesting but they did seem to be working with a lot of big ideas on society, inequality, human connectedness, grief, regret. The whole gambit of human experience and global issues seemed to be hinted at at some point.

Following a vaguely explained apocalypse, a married couple, their adult son and a tiny handful of servants have established a luxurious home in a salt mine, deliberately oblivious to whatever is happening in the world above. Under the controlling leadership of the patriarch (Michael Shannon) and his fearful wife (Tilda Swinton), they lead a comfortable existence. However, there are a multitude of relationship strains, past sins and guilt bubbling just below the surface. These all explode out into the open when a young woman somehow manages to find her way down into the mine. Her presence upsets the uneasy status quo that has sustained the sheltered "family" who have known no one but each other for at least two decades.

Much of the overlong film consists of monologues and the aftermaths as each character's house of lies is rawly exposed. While the stories and interpersonal tensions could be interesting, it's much too talky (maybe a better word is too verbal, since some of the monologues and conversations are sung, as if in a musical theater). Not much else happens, nor is the origin and sustainability of this outpost ever really explained - where does all the food and power come from? How did they acquire some of the world's great artwork to display on the walls of their elaborately furnished drawing rooms.

And why, oh why, did they bother with the musical numbers? If nothing else, they added to the film's excessive length. Tilda Swinton is a great actress, but she can't sing. Michael Shannon isn't much better at it. And neither makes any real effort to lip sync; though George MacCay as the son and Moses Ingram as the young woman do a decent job with the music.

In the end, it never really comes together well enough to fully explain who these people are and why they are the way they are. The film is visually stunning and expertly produced, but it's cold and unfulfilling - just as its characters are.

Ps. The streaming series Silo covers some of the same post-apocalypse territory, but does a far better job of portraying its underground isolation as a complete environment and society.

I only knew the premise of this film going in and felt perplexed as I exited the cinema. It took me a while to start processing what kind of story I have just been told. You can take many things from this. I will spare you any analysis but this film oddly lulled me into this hidden world with grey blue tones, anxious people, sumptuous decor and numerous paintings to, well, frame the story.

This was my second musical I have ever seen in the cinema and the first being Dancer In The Dark I think I have found pieces that accompany each other pretty well. I want to see this film again sometime and maybe do some rabbit hole research first so that I can spot the things I definitely missed first time.

Enjoy. It's a lovely film.

I don't think I had been equally excited for a film as I was nervous in a long time. Oppenheimer's feature debut was bound to be an uncompromising and singular vision, but I truly haven't seen anything like it. Clearly they have no idea how to market this film because neon is supposed to be releasing this limited in December and there's still no poster or trailer. I digress, but this film truly had me perked up throughout most of its runtime. Technically, this film has the sauce. Really interesting and detailed environment, cinematography and the use of lighting are also critical and work to contextualize scenes. The weak links are in the story and the music. While I don't think the golden age-style musical is necessary a gimmick, I don't think it's as fully realized or utilized as well as they'd hoped. I'd say for at least half the songs I was engaged but they all sound so similar. Aside from the moments where it feels like the visuals are meant to coincide with what's happening, it's just people walking around talk-singing how they feel. And it's a very thematically-loose film too, kind of has its eggs in too many baskets, without properly divulging into anything. When it's not scratching the surface of something profound, it can often feel trite. With all that being said, I really liked this movie. It's not for everyone and the dude next to me was so obviously bored, along with my girlfriend who said she'd probably never watch it again but liked it enough. You can't put it in a box and there's nothing like it which I think should merit a watch. While it's not looking to satisfy any lingering questions you might have, or any larger questions at that, it's begging something of you and asking, "are we too far gone, or guilty, to recover from our past?"

A family lives under a salt-mine from what seems to be the apocalypse. When a mysterious lady falls into their lair, her new perspective slowly changes the mood in their own lonely bunker.

The good, the story.

I love the backbone of this film. It reminds me of Blast from the Past, a somewhat similar bunker film starring Brendan Fraser. It actually nice to see Oppenheimer really understanding the ridiculous about this film and defiantly pushes the absurd comedy hidden within.

Love Mackay, who naturally looks like the guy from Garfield AND really plays up the innocence of his character. He is the hart of the film that really sticks everything together (even with my mis-givings).

I knew Oppenheimer of his masterful documentary way back in 2010s. It is by far one of the most memorable documentaries of all time AND that also has an ridiculous scenes that strays away from the dark absurdity of the film.

The bad, the music. On the very least, Oppenheimer knows the movie he is making and it really help take the bitter pill that is the musical. It literally was the musical tiktok. It is was not well written AND it is often times starts in the weirdest moments.

This would have been much better had it just be a straight forward end-of-the-world drama.

Soft recommendation.