One of the most exciting things about a film festival is the discovery of finding a film from a new artist and floating out of the theater knowing you just discovered art that is so exciting and fresh. There’s an electricity that courses through your body, and you feel like you may burst if you don’t tell everyone you’ve ever met about what you just experienced.
This year, that movie for me is Alex Ullom’s directorial debut, It Ends. Equal parts existential horror and (per Ullom in his post-show Q&A) “Richard Linklater hangout movie,” It Ends follows four friends who make a wrong turn on a post-college road trip and find themselves on a never-ending back road. If they leave the vehicle for too long, they’re swarmed by mysterious people begging for help.
Tyler (Mitchell Cole) has been out in the world longer than the other three and has seemed to settle into the idea of what an adult is supposed to be. He scoffs when his counterparts laugh at silly memes and avoids indulging his friends. Fisher (Noah Toth) begins the film with a rosier view and maneuvers the world contentedly. Day (Akira Jackson) oscillates between panic and sadness as she takes her graphic design degree back to the hometown she was happy to leave. Then there’s James (Phinehas Yoon), who’s emotionally closed himself off to everyone and everything he knows.
The basic premise feels like something that could be stretched too thin; however, Ullom’s construction of the premise and the rules of this universe are clear and concise. He doesn’t inundate us with exposition, but everything is detailed and thought out. It’s so obvious Ullom is an artist who knows what he wants and trusts his vision. Whether it’s the tree-lined road doused in a hazy lens that has you questioning reality or audacious match cuts that’ll have you chuckling in awe, Ullom isn’t afraid to push himself.
He weaves the stark contrast of tones in a unique and refreshing harmony that many major names still struggle to achieve. Ullom, who also edited the film, employs effective decisions that act as the glue holding these two tones together. The beginning is frenetic and chaotic, constantly cutting amid the horror. He never allows us to get our bearings.
As the film transitions into quieter territory, we stay on our characters longer, casually observing their interactions. It’s intimate and tender but still dripping with a sort of tension as these characters carve themselves open.
Each character arrives at the start of the film fully formed and, although we aren’t handed mounds of exposition, they all feel like intricate, well-rounded people. The film occupies that gloriously messy space between college and adulthood that often gets overlooked in the coming-of-age genre. The leap into adulthood comes with a crushing weight of expectation and potential, and each character carries the weight of that a little differently.
It’s almost exhilarating watching four fresher faces turn out performances of this caliber, navigating the limited space like a play. They know how to play the big moments, but it’s in the silence that they all respectively shine. They infuse silent interactions with deep history that we can feel. We don’t necessarily know every moment that brought them to that point, but we feel it.
Yoon in particular carries the heaviest arc of the quartet as James grapples with the decision to experience and fully embrace the reality of the world around him and every feeling coming at him. Our quartet is forced to grow up quickly, and James struggles with what that means. Yoon cracks James open when it counts, then haphazardly patches him back up, sometimes without a word.
This is certainly a film my twenty-three-year-old self would’ve felt so seen by. I felt trapped in this uncomfortable No Man’s Land where I was expected to join the world but couldn’t quite get the door open to enter. I felt like I was just wandering with no map.
It Ends is the perfect coming-of-age film for the 2020s. As heightened and fantastical as it is, it feels visceral and universal. The world right now is so loud and bleak. There was a promise of your life truly starting, and yet everything is on fire, and people are only continuing to pour lighter fluid onto it. How are you supposed to be excited and emotionally available when the road is so uncertain?
Adulthood can feel like a never-ending road that feels increasingly pointless as you chug along. Despite our best efforts, we can’t ride the road all the way with everyone we started with. And, as much as we want there to be some grand meaning to everything, sometimes bad things just happen. The meaning comes with how we proceed and let it inform our next steps.
That’s the real beauty of Ullom’s script. Despite how dire it all gets, he doesn’t abandon you on a sour note. In spite of everything, there is still a promise of things turning out okay, even if just for a little bit. The world doesn’t necessarily get better, you do as you equip yourself with the means to navigate and try your best. And sometimes it’s okay that your best is just never taking your foot off the gas.
Ironically, the title deals with endings when it feels like such a bright beginning for ferocious talents, specifically Ullom. During our Q&A, he said he began work on this film when he was twenty-three (he’s twenty-six now). If he’s this good on his first feature at this age, imagine how good his second, third, and fourth ventures are going to be. Quite frankly, it’s a road I’m excited to follow.
Review Courtesy of Adam Patla
Image Courtesy of IMDB