The End of All Things (2019) Poster

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5/10
Minimalistic
Call-Me-Mr-Smith17 December 2019
Evident lack of experience, but solid premise for the story...interesting visuals and adequate acting on one side, paucity of the dialogue and an underdeveloped script and characters on the other. Of some interest mainly to the connoisseurs of the genre (and perhaps anthropology students) - the movie is not too philosophical, but requires a bit of patience before the mildly rewarding resolution comes.
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3/10
Hmm
beermonsteruk-4070228 December 2019
An interesting concept but the whole film is almost void of all character building and story, nothing is explained at all. I get the religion thing but for me I would like a little structure in my movie. A film that could have been condensed into a short in my opinion
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2/10
A complete waste of time
n-alessandra1 December 2019
The slowest movie I have seen in a long time, no purpose, little meaning, no script. All the positive rankings are obviously from the family of the movie director...
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1/10
Hopeless in Every Way
bemyfriend-4018419 March 2021
The movie is trying to be arty. Hopelessness as art. It comes off as a bad Saturday Night Live skit. I fast-forwarded through. Not worth my time. I don't know if you value your time; but it may not be worth your time, as well
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1/10
Do not watch this movie!!!!I REPEAT do not watch it!!!!
casandrahicks20 June 2022
The reviews who left a ten must be friends with this producer!!!!! It was one of the worst films I've ever watched, ever!!!! Worst ever worst worst worst!!!!!!! It's not even worth 1 star in my opinion!!!!!!!!!!
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7/10
Thought provoking and haunting. A post-apocalypse genre gem.
smokingtyger15 November 2019
Firstly, the storyline description is really misleading and even a little off putting. It's loosely accurate but it does not capture, or even really describe, what this film is about. A more accurate take would perhaps be, "In a bleak post-apocalypse world, three survivors lives are altered when one of them has a life changing encounter with a pre-apocalypse piece of technology". At least that would give a more accurate sense of what this movie is about.

Realistically this is not a movie that you can describe in one or two sentences. It's a movie about visuals and ideas that really has to be watched to be understood. Even a scene by scene description of this movie still wouldn't capture it's power to engage the viewer. In a genre where so many of the offerings are so generic that they are forgotten as soon as they are finished this one will stick with you. My wife and I were still talking about this one for days after we watched it.

Having said all that, let's talk about the movie. It's a small movie. There are only six people on screen and three of them are there for only short times. This movie is all about the three main characters and their relationship and interactions. It takes place in just three settings, two ruined farmhouses and a few forested countryside spots. There aren't any zombies, or mutants, or killer robots, or cannibal hordes, or ruined cities, or aliens. It's just three people living in a bleak, cold, grey world where everyday requires grinding effort to survive.

The movie opens wordlessly with the viewer watching the three survivors (whose names we don't ever learn) going through what are clearly their well honed survival routines. It's a harsh life in a overcast, grey world and our survivors are clearly just barely getting by. There are no frills or extras in their life and while there is clearly some tensions between them they also seem deeply bonded and connected with each other. With minimal dialog the actors really convey the the tightly knit character of the relationship these three share. They may have been thrown together at random in the apocalypse but now they are a unit, "a family".

After a bad day of hunting rabbits (which seem to be the only game animal remaining) the "man" (who seems to be in his mid thirties) tells the "woman" (who seems to be in her mid twenties) that he and the "boy" (who seems to be in his late teens) need to go on a scavenging run. The next day the two men set off through an empty countryside to check out deserted houses they find along the way. Ultimately coming to the house where their lives will all be altered.

The "mysterious relic" should be obvious to the viewer, it's a computer tablet of some sort. The man and the boy are exploring a very large house and find what is clearly a nursery (there's a crib in the room). The man asks the boy to look around in there while he checks out the rest of the house. While he's sifting through the stuff in the room the boy picks up a small rectangular piece of what looks like clear glass (so we are talking near future tech, maybe 10 to 20 years in our future). While he's examining it, he turns it on and a program comes up. What he sees, in the few minutes the device stays on, changes him and that's what this movie is really about.

Saying anything more would spoil the movie. What comes next is gripping, thought provoking, surprising, and emotionally engaging. There are several twists that are really unexpected, but totally logical, and a devastating climax. The acting is really good and the production values are top quality. There are no snags or obvious flaws in the sets or scripts to make the viewer fall out of the spell being woven and in the end I think you will find yourself thinking about this movie long after the credits end.
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9/10
Haunting vision of the apocalypse
leonfray1 December 2019
This is a film that stayed with me long after the credits rolled. Thought provoking, and completely realistic in spite of the almost satirical concept, it felt at once a timely film and one that was universal. After a slow start, it builds to something very unique and fascinating.
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7/10
Slow-burning thought developer
jamesbondosw28 February 2020
What if? That's the stark question posed by this well- shot-on-a-small-budget film. There's a twist or two along the way, with the final one a surprise. To be honest, it takes the film a while to get going, but it definitely emphasises the starkness of the post-apocalyptic situation the characters find themselves in. What would we do in their position? Would we be able to survive? Good acting by unknown faces. The location scenery is filmed well, and the tension builds. Stay with it - the tension ramps up as the film progresses.
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7/10
Ultimately Falls Flat
Mehki_Girl2 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This is a really slow burn. You don't know much about what caused the end of all things, but clues are peppered throughout the movie if you pay attention, which I had difficulty doing.

It's seems the world ended as we will know it about 30 plus years ago. We follow three people, a middle-aged but youngest man, a 30ish woman, and early twenties man.

The older man was a boy when the world ended and remembers the most. The woman was 3yo, and the young man not borned yet.

He finds a "relic" of the former world and he and the woman immediately create a religion around it on the hopes of improving their miserable lives of nothing but being cold, thirsty, and hungry.

The older, wiser man knows better than to believe in fantastical things and hope that some diety cares, is paying attention, or exists at all.

Let's just say, whenever religion enters the picture, delusion, cognitive dissonance, sexual assault, and murder aren't far behind.

As an atheist, that sounds about right.

The movie is well made and everyone played their parts well, but in some ways it's so artsy even the crowd that doesn't mind slow burns and doesn't need car chases may have trouble seeing this movie through.
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9/10
Provocative and deep, a very good movie
nqymqthg26 November 2023
The movie shows a post-apocalyptic time with only a few survivors. As some older people still remember how it used to be, the young ones do not, and you can clearly see they start to see the world differently. As the girl and the boy find a children's book, they start to think it had some deeper meaning. Slowly, they develop their own religion, hoping that if they repeat their ritual every day, there will be sun and rain.

The movie reflects on human nature, the sense of good and evil, something that has always been there inside of us. It made me think of before, when humans were only a few and scared, always searching for answers. It gives you a glimpse of how a religion can come to be out of despair and fear.
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8/10
Thought provoking
spriteman-5437421 January 2020
This feature takes a sidestep away from the generic post-apocalyptic fantasies we have seen numerous times previously. And it is all the better for it. The film is gritty, and focuses on the fragile relationships that are conceived by the setting, compounded further by the occurrence of an interesting discovery by one of the protagonists.

The film is full of beautiful shots and the effects are are superbly executed for what is evidently a low budget feature.

If you enjoy a thought provoking film, then I would recommend giving this a go.
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10/10
More than just another post apocalypse movie.
adievans16 November 2019
This is a fantastic concept. The film although set in a future world really throws another angle at human belief and faith. The argument that we all need to believe in something is tackled from 3 different points of view in such a thrilling and intense ride. It will make you think and question your own views long after the credits roll down. The cast more than handled their roles in a film of little words but massive points of discussion.
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10/10
Awesome
mike-9039625 July 2020
This was marketed totally wrong. Looked like it was your typical action thriller from the poster, but it's definitely not that. It's a languid, meditative piece about so many things. Starts off slow but stick with it, and don't go in expecting big action set-pieces or anything over the top. It's about three people trying to survive, and couldn't be more relevant than it is today.
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10/10
Breathtaking film with a lasting effect
juggedhare2 November 2020
This film is absolutely incredible given its tight budget (which you wouldn't know from watching) Firstly, the actors all give tremendous, believable and heartfelt performances and the locations are spectacular. The cinematography is beautifully stylish and the score is exquisite. I look forward to seeing it again and again. You are not led to a conclusion but left to contemplate and reflect on multiple meanings and inferences of such long after. This is a film that leaves you thinking about life's purpose, the struggles and need for structure, routine and beliefs to navigate and manage to survive in a challenging world.
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