The End (2024) Dir: Joshua Oppenheimer
- Ridley Coote
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
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Joshua Oppenheimer's end-of-the-world Musical drama is not the kind of film I'd usually watch. However, I recall seeing the trailers for it, and hoping I'd be able to watch it sooner than later. Unfortunately, the film's reception was significantly more mediocre than I would've hoped, but still, I held out hopes for some enjoyment.
It being a musical, there were a number of songs throughout. Unfortunately, these came at extremely random times, and made the film drag exponentially. Even worse, they were straight-up bad songs, for the most part. This is one of those musicals where the songs are comprised of the actors saying words in a mildly lyrical manner. Some people like that, I am not one of those people.
The film had a bizarre and pointless story that felt like it was building to something of substance, only to dash any hopes of a redemptive ending, in favour of a flat, deflating, and frustrating finish. Quite frankly, the film was far too long and slow for its own good. This was only made worse by its inconsistent pacing, which made the whole viewing experience feel stunted and awkward.
As it pertained to the cast, I think the performances suffered a bit because of the nature of the film, albeit some of the actors still had good moments. I personally felt that Tilda Swinton and George MacKay were the most deserving of praise, albeit neither turned in anything close to their best performances. Meanwhile, the likes of Moses Ingram, Michael Shannon, Bronagh Gallagher, Tim McInnerny, Lennie James, and Danielle Ryan, all failed to make a positive impact on me.
Overall, I ended up being very disappointed by this one. It felt like it could've been a bit of a sleeper hit, but ultimately, it failed miserably at providing even a modicum of entertainment. Unfortunately, this was one of those films where I just couldn't wait for it to end, and because it was over two hours long, that took forever to happen. I love the attempt - the film wanted to be different, it wanted to be unique - but its safe to say that this was a very big swing and a miss.
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