The End

An absurdist musical satire in which a wealthy family's underground existence is disrupted by a stranger from a dystopian reality.

An eat-the-rich satire stretched out as a musical. The End (2024) marks the feature film debut of Joshua Oppenheimer, the Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker who previously raised eyebrows with docs like The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence (both addressing genocidal killings in Indonesia with shocking "recreations" by the locals). In a new format with The End, Oppenheimer tries to recreate his subversive brand but succeeds only partly. The title of his film alludes to a possible post-apocalyptic reality where the rich could survive in an underground bunker within a salt mine. As it's a musical, we see A-listers like Tilda Swinton (Mother) and Michael Shannon (Father) sing on about their First World trivialities with George McKay (Son). While the ensemble cast is in its element, the usual routine of "straight face, silly lyrics" grows tiresome, considering The End doesn't end until its 2h28m runtime. Moses Ingram, the breakout star of the Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi, offers some fresh air as a stranger who accidentally stumbles across the ruling class's secret hideout. But once she also gets the musical bug, one begins to feel the film's overambitious duration.

Musically speaking, The End has forgettable song-and-dance numbers. It's hard to find a musical parallel, but in this sense, it's tonally similar to the Adam Driver-starrer Annette. And while Annette also had polarising results with its over-the-top deadpan tunes, the 2021 film at least benefitted from multiple time jumps and widescreen landscapes. The End, sadly, remains confined within its claustrophobic salt mine for most of the film, making even ever-reliable character actors like Tilda Swinton and George McKay sound one-note.