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Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon Sing About the Apocalypse at Telluride
Musicals are really in vogue at the Fall Film Festivals this year. At Venice, the upcoming Joker: Folie à Deux will see stars Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga singing and dancing to the standards. At Telluride, Emilia Perez has embraced the musical bug, as has the country-tinged The Easy Kind. Additionally, the Robbie Williams creation, Better Man from The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey, and Pharrell Williams’ LEGO biopic Piece By Piece are keeping audiences humming the tunes. World premiering today at Telluride is The End, perhaps the most unlikely storyline for a musical. It is set after a catastrophic environmental disaster has wiped out humanity, leaving only a very wealthy family – part of the cause themselves – residing in a plush underground bunker. Bring on the songs!
If I had to describe it (and I do), The End is like La La Land meets On The Beach. The latter film centered on Australians awaiting a nuclear cloud’s arrival to wipe them out.
In The End, Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon portray the extremely wealthy parents (formal names are undisclosed) of a family that has been living in this extravagant underground ice palace of a bunker for 25 years. This is after our negligence around climate change led to the demise of humanity.
Their living quarters are elaborate, complete with food, plants, fish, and half the world’s great paintings, including Monet’s Lady With A Parasol. The others in this luxurious home include their Son (George MacKay), who has never experienced the outside world, Friend (Bronagh Gallagher), Butler (Tim McInnerny), and Doctor (Lennie James). One day, a mysterious Girl (Moses Ingram) manages to penetrate this fortress, which becomes a significant problem as no one has ever survived outside. Despite initial resistance, she’s allowed to stay, leading to a romantic subplot between her and the Son, reminiscent of Tony and Maria from West Side Story. Their love song is beautifully choreographed and shot.
Well, everyone gets songs, and I have to admit, the score is quite melodic, even if it sometimes veers too close to La La Land. Credit Joshua Schmidt with the music and the film’s director Joshua Oppenheimer with the lyrics. Oppenheimer, who wrote the screenplay with Rasmus Heisterberg, dreamed up this inventive concept, partially inspired by his love for the 1964 all-sung French classic, The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg. He had serious concerns about how humans seem to be destroying themselves with careless care of the world. The perfect counterpoint to demonstrate these last remaining survivors’ denial? They sing about it.
Oppenheimer, a documentarian known for serious movies like Act Of Killing and Look Of Silence, is also an admirer of Hollywood’s golden musical age and directors like Vincente Minnelli and Gene Kelly. Though this musical is an homage in weird ways, the fate of this group is getting increasingly darker. Shannon sings of regret for his contributions to the world’s end as a corporate executive who ignored warnings for pure greed. Swinton’s mother is finally emerging from her obsession with material things and great art to realize they are living a lie. The Son is finding independence, but it’s the Girl who becomes the catalyst for change, even at this point in their lives. Ingram (The Queen’s Gambit) has impressive singing chops and is the best vocalist in the cast. All of them get through their numbers with style, especially as conflicts with the Friend and warnings from the Doctor begin to take hold.
Acting-wise, you can’t beat Swinton, who is among the most adventurous stars, and Shannon matches her well. MacKay combines naivete and curiosity perfectly. The other actors, particularly Gallagher as the longtime Friend, also deliver great performances. Ingram steals the show, and I hope she gets more musical opportunities in the future. The talent is there.
There are 13 original songs, like “Big Blue Sky” and “The Mirror”. It’s probably no accident that La La Land’s Marius De Vries is the Executive Producer for music here, credited with scoring alongside Schmidt. Jette Lehmann’s Production Design is also key, existing in a world of its own.
In some ways, Oppenheimer’s seemingly bonkers idea of a family at the world’s end spilling their guts in increasingly depressing songs makes creative sense. Yet, there is still hope in this dire concept of a musical, and that hope for humanity is what we hang onto. And of course, there are some pretty good songs to look forward to.
Producers are Signe Borge Sorensen, Oppenheimer, and Swinton.
Title: The End
Festival: Telluride Film Festival
Distributor: NEON
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Screenplay: Joshua Oppenheimer and Rasmus Heisterberg
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay, Moses Ingram, Bronagh Gallagher, Tim McInnerny, Lennie James
Running Time: 2 hours and 36 minutes
Source: Telluride Film Festival, Venice Film Festival
