Endings, Beginnings

I enjoyed this film, and its honest look at the downsides of hook up culture. Perhaps Mr. Doremus's best film since the excellent "Like Crazy". Good acting among the three leads. Excellent soundtrack. More young people should see this film. Makes for a cautionary tale for those navigating the dating scene today, flitting from partner to partner.

"Endings, Beginnings" is a spare story of a woman, Daphne, who appears to have no career or job, and seems adrift in her personal life after a break-up. She does a lot of party- and club-hopping in LA, and meets two hot dudes who happen to be close friends. This triangle gets messy when she falls into a sexual relationship with both of them. One is the classic bad boy who owes people money, smokes pot, but is great in bed. The other is a more serious academic and writer who offers the prospect of a deeper relationship, but she seems to find him less "exciting." Even though he's very cool and good-looking!

The shaky camera work, abrupt cuts, dreamy lighting and lack of dialogue or structured plot make this seem like a music video more than a feature film. Stan and Woodley have some raunchy sex scenes, and you can see why she finds him irresistible, but this is fairly shallow fare due to the direction and writing.

I disliked the film. It is slow, and the plot does not go anywhere.

I guess this film is about real life and real people. How messed up we are, and relationships, how extremely complicated is everything. The actors did an amazing job, since all dialogues were improvised, no written script. The movie has a certain atmosphere that catches you where music and cinematography are in harmony, and you'll have a great deal to think about way after "the end".

This movie terribly lacked substance and excitement. Nothing happens except kitschy texts on the screen every five minutes and the next thing you know, Daphne slinks out of one guy's arms and runs into the other's, only to turn back to the first one again in a jiffy. I'd expect a movie with Jamie Dornan to have a lot more verve and zest, to be honest. What a shame.