#TIFF24: “THE END” REVIEW

By Nicholas Porteous

In Joshua Oppenheimer‘s first narrative feature The End, our planet has become uninhabitable, and an opulent, extended family (Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay, Bronagh Gallagher, Tim McInnerny and Lennie James) clings to existence in a salt mine. Their days are spent hanging paintings, tending to toy models of the past, and getting in a bit of exercise. If you’re feeling a bit aimless–in any aspect of your existence–wait til you meet these people. In spite of their rudderless lives, they seem pretty content–at least on the surface. They are still coping, to one degree or another, with their responsibility for how the end of the world went down, maintaining comforting narratives about their past lives. When an unexpected visitor appears (Moses Ingram), the family is forced to recalibrate everything they’ve taken for granted about their routine lifestyle and personal narratives. Did I mention it’s a Musical?

The End is, for better and worse, unlike most movies I’ve ever seen. It takes a classic post-apocalyptic premise and injects the whimsy of a musical, while maintaining a core sense of a drudging, daily existence leading nowhere. It’s paradoxically expansive–infused with generous, super wide frames full of characters and set design–and also deeply interior. Near-motionless. These isolated beings, trapped in a social bubble of their own design, come off like aliens, completely out of practice when it comes to connecting with others. It’s as charming as it is confounding. Michael Shannon is particularly compelling as the aloof patriarch, giving what is likely the most tender performance of his career.

Outside of its songs, there’s little to no attempt to fight the inertia of this dying world. The End is a movie that feels longer than it is, and refuses to weave its various character threads into a compelling shape, abandoning one subplot for the other as its runtime drags onward. It’s a perplexing experience. I’m glad I saw it at the festival on a giant screen with an excited audience, because it’s so singular, but I can’t recommend The End as anything beyond a big swing novelty that may very well leave you cold and tired.

The End screens at TIFF ’24:

Thursday September 12th at 9:00 PM at Scotiabank