Fim dos Tempos

¨The end is closer than you can imagine.¨

Fin (The End) is a Spanish film that was officially selected for the Toronto International Film Festival last year. It's a thriller that really never thrilled me and I was highly disappointed with this film because despite having an unknown director, Jorge Torregrossa (mostly known in Spain for directing TV series), the screenplay was adapted by two well known Spanish writers, Sergio Sanchez (The Orphanage) and Jorge Guerricaechevarria (Cell 211), who have written some great screenplays. It was not the case with The End because one of the weakest aspects about this film for me was the script which never managed to create likable characters or believable situations. If you are going to make a thriller you better back it up with a decent story, but here they never explain the strange developments. This could have worked perhaps as a TV series, but in a 90 minute movie we never got to care for any of the characters and what we really wanted to know never was explained. The End is one of those films that tries to be all philosophical but never ends up saying anything at all. It doesn't reward the viewer for their patience. The film was adapted from David Monteagudo's novel which I have never read and really don't want to after watching this. I imagine it never explains any of the strange events occurring either. There are about nine actors in the entire film and we never really care for any of them. The only positive thing I can say about this movie is that it was nicely shot thanks to the beautiful landscape chosen as the setting for the story.

The plot is pretty simple; a group of friends decide to reunite after 20 years in a beautiful mountain cabin. This group of friends seem to have been really tight, but something happened in their past that has separated them and continues to haunt them. Sara (Carmen Ruiz) is the one who decided to reunite the group for the weekend after calling each one of them. Sergio (Miguel Fernandez) decides to go with his apparent girlfriend Eva (Clara Lago), while Maribel (Maribel Verdu) goes with her husband Rafa (Antonio Garrido). Maribel and Sergio had a relationship in the past, but haven't seen each other since the episode 20 years ago. Felix (Daniel Grao), the Casanova of the group, is dating Cova (Blanca Romero). Everything seems to be just fine as the group is laughing together as they camp outside, but Sara is worried that their friend known as the prophet (Eugenio Mira) hasn't showed up. The reason she is so worried is because he was the one that convinced her to call everyone because he wanted to see them. Apparently the prophet was the reason why the group broke up in the first place after he suffered a severe seizure and began prophesying about the end of the world. He was institutionalized, but Sara said he was recovering very well and that is why she insisted on everyone meeting again. Around midnight a strange incident involving a thundering noise and lightning takes place, which leaves the place without lights or communication. The vehicles don't work either as apparently some strange magnetism has affected them. All of a sudden some of them begin to vanish and no one knows what is going on.

The plot seems pretty interesting but believe me the film isn't. The director never takes time to explain the strange events, and the back stories of each character are never explained clearly. The reason why the group disintegrated 20 years ago is really poorly developed and doesn't make much sense really. I was really disappointed with this and expected more considering the plot seemed pretty inventive. This is just another failed attempt at a thriller which really never has any thrills. The cast in this film doesn't stand out either. The only well known actress here is Maribel Verdu, but she doesn't play an important role. The entire mystery and eeriness of the film is never explained at all which made me feel like everything was a complete waste of time. We see the events unfolding before our eyes, but we are never explained why these things are occurring. The End just felt pointless for me and I wouldn't recommend this film.

One negative reviewer of this film wrote "The point of a movie that's directed to an audience is to give a purpose at the end." But that's not always the case. This film is about love and hate, fear and joy, boredom and mystery and the persistence of hope. I thought the film unfolds well, at first glance looking a bit Agatha Christi, and then for a few moments like a slick Christian apocalyptic genre film, but while there are moments when a viewer might say Book of Revelations, the film turns in a different, infinitely human and humanistic direction ending as an exploration of the truth we all face- humans live and die, and we can do that well or badly. selfishly or generously, thoughtless and unthinking or thoughtfully.

Fin is a deeply philosophical film without a single lecture, and while sometimes quiet (though never for long) I found it deeply engaging. I don't give an 8 of 10 score often, but this is a film I'll watch more than once. A few reviewers here have suggested that Fin lacks in action or special effects. Instead, I offer congratulations to director Jorge Torregrossa for a film that uses special effects and action to assist in the telling of a story rather than allowing such techniques to take the place of a story. Bravo to composer Lucio Godoy for an especially fine score.

Usually, when there is a weak script, everything fall with it... But this movie is different. Even if the storyline is incomplete, or lack of imagination, the actors are so good that you still follow the adventure (without big expectations) until the end.

The cast is solid, the acting is flawless, the soundtrack is good, so... A script with a bit more originality would have made a very good movie.

Don't expect a kind of apocalyptic movie like The Road, or crude has HELL (Bright), but more of a soft philosophical end of time story, a reset of humanity.

But anyway, congratulations to the actors, you all did a very good job.

THE END is, as the title would suggest, a film about the apocalypse. At least, it appears to be about an apocalypse of sorts, but given that this is a film that offers zero explanation or indeed any kind of reasoning about what's actually happening, your guess is as good as mine.

The saving grace of the film is that it's superbly shot, with wonderful outdoor cinematography and lots of vibrant moments. The set-piece with the dogs is as beautifully shot a piece of cinema as I can recall. The plot is simple stuff, with a group of twentysomething friends heading out into the countryside for a get together when 'something' happens - something explosive, and devastating.

When people begin to disappear, things get really weird. The lack of explanations make this both frustrating and rather spooky. The characters are thinly-drawn and there's a little too much time spent on triviality, but for the most part this is an intriguing, quirky slice of science fiction, well made by those talented Spaniards.

Okay the movie begins with an old friends gang meets together after the several years of gap in a mountain cabin. They talk and remember the old days they spent together, seems they still have something for each other until that strange night. As they are now far from the human density, they are unable to contact the rest of the world to ask help from the weird situation happening around them. So the journey begins with these old friends in search of safe place near.

Yeah the movie was too soft for apocalypse theme, more like a drama which suit all age groups. There were no strong graphics, everything was simple as some family drama with few thrilling scenes now and then comes to put us on the edge of the seat. I think I liked the director's approach on presenting it in an unusual way and avoiding building collapse, landslides and all the disaster that represents in the pre apocalyptic process.

The movie had a minimal cast with around 9 except opening few minutes which shot in the city. Suspenseful story but fails to reveal itself at any stage of its story penetration which might annoy the audience to dump it into underrated category. It will be a nice adventure-drama if you are not expecting something like '2012' or a similar movie. As it was adapted from a novel it looked we are reading it while watching. Kinda more suitable for family audience except one nude scene from beginning of the story.

There was nothing any special compared to modern apocalypse movies but it was pure artistic with avoided violence even in the deaths of the movie characters. That makes even children can be allowed to watch it if they are interested in this movie. Overall it was not worse like everyone says, some people disappointed because they expected high-end stunts and graphics which were lacking in this story. So keep your expectations low and remember you are watching sci-fi drama not action thriller.

7/10